Convincingly set in rural France, this gripping whodunit, Perigord style, has a charming detective, irresistible female police officer, a complex and timely crime, and a marvelous sense of the cafes, markets, bakeries and people of the region. Walker borrows elements from Sarlat and Bergerac and smaller towns like St Cyprien and Belves, Les Eyzies and Siorac, Eymet and Sainte Alvere, Tremolat and Le Bugue and Le Buisson in creating St. Denis. A journalist, historian and director of the Global Business Policy Council, Walker (America Reborn, The Cold War: A History) divides his time between Washington D.C. and the Perigord.  (FRN811, $14.95)