Martin Walker

Martin Walker is one of the most listened to shows on Binge Reading of all times, so we are delighted to have him back discussing his latest book, To Kill a Troubadour. It’s number 15 in the Bruno Perigord police chief series, highly popular all over the place, particularly in Germany. When a musician’s new song hits a political nerve, he finds himself in the crosshairs of Spanish Nationalists’ ire, and it's up to Bruno to track down the extremists who seem to be ready to take deadly measures. Another delightful installment of the internationally acclaimed series featuring Bruno, Chief of Police. But now, here’s Martin. Jenny Wheeler: Welcome back, Martin. It's so good to have you on the show again. Martin Walker: It's good to be back with you, Jenny. Jenny Wheeler: We’re talking about To Kill a Troubador, which is number 15 in your Perigord Bruno the Police Chief series. I particularly loved this one because you have such an interesting mix of things going on in the story. It's a combination of the French provincial life that's so popular with your readers, but there is also that edge of both history and contemporary politics in it. We’ve got Russian cyber-attacks, we've got some of the French medieval history coming into it, and I wondered with the cyber-attack part of it in particular, we know from your earlier podcast interview with us that you have had a very illustrious career as a diplomatic correspondent for top newspapers. Did those diplomatic contacts and the people you met over that period of your life help with your research on the cyber-attack aspects of this book? Martin Walker: Yes, very much so. I have various old contacts who are with offices like GCHQ in Britain and the NSA in America. I even gave a lecture at the NSA at one point on international politics, and so I keep in touch with old chums. I try and keep in touch with my old friends in Moscow, some of whom have now left because of opposition to the war in Ukraine. But yes, most of my life I was in journalism, and you meet an awful lot of interesting characters around the world through journalism. The other thing is the old Fleet Street motto holds good – expert knowledge is just a phone call away. Jenny Wheeler: That's great. The rise of right wing extremism is an inherent part of this story, but also there is the medieval aspect with the Occitan culture being promoted by various interest groups. One of the key characters in that right wing extremism is this woman, Africa, who appears right through the story, a mysterious figure. We've had a little bit of a conversation off camera because the edition I read of your book didn't have an author acknowledgement section, and I was very curious as to whether Africa was a real person or entirely made up. We have just had a little chat about that off air and you've explained that she is definitely a real person. Tell us about her role in the story and also what she actually achieved in real life. Martin Walker: Well, there was a woman called África de las Heras who was a Spanish communist during the Spanish Civil War, born to quite a wealthy, prosperous family. At the end of the war when the Republican left wing side was defeated and Franco took over, she was steered back to Moscow by the NKVD figure there, which is the modern KGB, if you like. She became a full-time KGB official and had an extraordinary career. She was used by the Red Army in World War II to coordinate partisan activity around the Blue Division, which was the Spanish division of volunteers that Franco sent to the Eastern front to fight on the side of the Nazis. She had a distinguished career with that. She got several medals for it. She then went off to South America where she was the person who warned the Russians that the Bay of Pigs invasion was to be launched in 1961. She was told to marry the head of the KGB in South America, based in Argentina. He was a Yugoslav, and of course the Yugoslavs were starting to come under considerable suspicion. Never Miss out!Never miss out on the hottest new authors, regular FREE BOOK OFFERS and Most Popular podcasts.Yes please to FREE BOOKS and updates on popular booksWe won't send you spam. 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