num_pages: 321
description: A beloved village a renowned family a suspicious death  its the latest adventure in the Dordogne for police chief Bruno.When Bruno is invited to the lavish birthday celebration of World War II flying ace and national icon Marco the Patriarch Desaix its the fulfillment of a boyhood dream. But when the party ends in the death of Gilbert Marcos longtime friend its another day on the job for the chef de police . All signs point to a tragic accident but Bruno isnt so sure. There is more to the Desaix familys lives and loyalties than meets the eye. There is Victor the Patriarchs son Gilberts old comrade-in-arms and sometime rival; Victors seductive wife Madeleine whose roving eye intrigues Bruno even more than her fierce political ambitions; Yevgeny another son an artist whose paintings seem to hold keys to the past; and the Patriarch himself whose postwar Soviet ties may have intersected all too closely with Gilberts career in Cold War intelligence.Bruno is diverted by a dangerous conflict between a local animal rights activist and outraged hunters  as well as meals to cook wine to share and an ever more complicated romantic situation. But as his entanglement with the Desaix family grows and his suspicions heighten Brunos inquiries into Gilberts life become a deadly threat to his own.
language: English
title: The Patriarch
publisher: Knopf