THE CROWDED GRAVE is Martin Walker's fourth novel in his series featuring the St Denis Chief of Police, Bruno Courreges.

One morning, traffic chaos visits the rural road leading to St Denis in the French gourmet heartland of Perigord. Ducks and geese from one of the local farms have escaped onto the road through vandalised fencing which now sports Animal Rights leaflets calling for a boycott of foie gras. Outraged fingers point towards the students on a nearby archaeological dig. But Chief Bruno Courreges has already been called to the dig site where they have unearthed a body - and it's not prehistoric; its hands have been bound behind its back, it's wearing a watch, and there is a bullet hole in its skull.

This is going to be a busy day for Bruno, also summoned to a meeting with the Brigadier, a senior figure in French Intelligence. There is to be a high level Franco-Spanish summit at a local chateau. The Interior Ministers of both countries are to sign an agreement over intelligence-sharing concerning the cross-border activities of the Basque terrorist organisation ETA. As the local police chief and an ex-soldier, Bruno has been seconded onto a joint security committee for the summit. And as if all this is not enough - the district is expecting the arrival of its new, young, "vegetarian feminist" magistrate. And then there is the return to St Denis of Bruno's ex-lover, now working as a member of the Brigadier's team.

It is indeed a "crowded grave" and a crowded criminal itinerary for Bruno: terrorists, animal rights activists, a decades old corpse. Even more mysteries arise as the plot accelerates from canter to gallop - missing students, missing dynamite, and a missing archaeologist.