My husband and I both agreed, having read ALL the prior books in the Bruno, Chief of Police series, that this is by far the best yet. Why? Not just because of the food (yes, the food, it pervades Bruno's life and Martin's - the author – as well) but because Bruno seems quite human in this story.

My husband and I joke affectionately about Bruno, sometimes alluding to him as "Super Bruno," so we were pleased to see that "Super Bruno" can also just be Somewhat-Regular-Guy Bruno, who makes mistakes. (That is not really a spoiler.)

This was an especially nice treat after what I wrote about the last Bruno book being a bit formulaic. Just so you know how much we enjoyed this one, we've put the next two on reserve at the library. :-)

The author does a great job of bringing to life the lifestyle and people of St Denis, with much of it taken up with the relationships and interactions between the recurring characters. However, this is precisely why I gave up on this book. I haven't read any of the earlier books in this series, so it felt like I was joining in on a conversation that was already underway and was about people I didn't know.

This was my least favorite Bruno novel. It felt a little formulaic.

Bruno returns for more police work, country cooking, wine drinking, horse riding, murder solving, community building, and self-reflection. Another enjoyable entry in the Chief-of-Police series. Like, fine wine, Bruno improves with age.

Such a great series!

The Bruno Chief of Police series is one of my annual favourites, but this one fell a bit short of my usual 5 star rating for the books that feature the rural policeman in the Perigord region of France.
The usual touchstones of the series were in place, i.e. a meal cooked by Bruno for his friends with its preparation lovingly described, the interactions with his basset hound and his horse, the camaraderie with friends such as the Mayor and J.J., and, of course, the ongoing dynamic of the relationships with Pamela and Isabelle.
What missed the mark for me was a too-quick resolution in the space of the final few pages of the book with no reflection or discussion. It just ended too abruptly and something felt missing.
Partly this was because the title "The Resistance Man" and the entire setup of the book (a cover tagline reads "War casts the longest shadow. A case for Bruno, chef de police) leads one to expect that the book will centre around some modern day results or solutions of the July 26, 1944 Train Robbery in Neuvic by the French Resistance of the Banque de France reserves of which a large portion remains suspiciously unaccounted for. This however becomes a very minor subplot to the main crime and mystery story that Bruno is called upon to solve.
So, nothing wrong with the book, I just had slightly different expectations about the story and they weren't quite satisfied. It seems like the marketing led this one astray for me.
Regardless, I am a Bruno fan still, and eagerly await the next one.