Summary: Bruno loves his community, helps prevent crime, meets a new woman and solves a big crime (but not much really happens).
Bruno is one of my favorite lead characters in a mystery series. He can cook, he loves his community, he understand the real purpose of law enforcement and how to strengthen a community. The series as a whole has created an idyllic understanding of community, while maintaining an understanding of the fallenness of the world. Crime still happens, people are still abused and hated, and there is still a need for police to protect the innocent and bring about redemptive justice. Bruno is not religious in this series. There is no explicit Christian faith. But his view of justice is deeply Christian.
I purchased Fatal Pursuit (the newest book) on the day it came out. I alternately read it on kindle or listened to the audiobook and finished in 2 days. I enjoyed the book, but it felt like a re-tread of previous books. There was a major crime, there was a connection to WWII history, a new woman in the community for Bruno to consider, a new aspect of the very small community that had never been mentioned before (in this case a community amusement park), and yet another connection to international terrorism in his small community.
If you have liked previous Bruno books, you will probably like this one. Although the plot was weaker than normal and I was sure there was more to the story when approached the end. The best part of the story is Bruno’s helping a low income immigrant teen avoid trouble and get a job. But that is reveals Bruno’s character and view of the world. It does not move the story along.
Bruno is a series that you read because you love the community and the characters. You still want a good mystery, but at least for me, what has made the series is the community, the food and the characters. I do not think this was a bad book, I would read it again, but Walker has to move the story along. Bruno needs a stable relationship. He wants to be a husband and father. There series has gone on for too long, if Walker does not make some hard decisions, Bruno will be 20 years into the series and still alone, but I will have stopped reading.
Fatal Pursuit by Martin Walker (Bruno Chief of Police #9) Purchase Links: Hardcover, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook
