My mouth watered with the description of caramels, crepes, lamb tartine, and other delicacies. His love of food and espresso is wonderful. The plot is complex and nuanced.ĭupin is quite a character. There are a lot of female executives who are all quite formidable and a long list of suspects. Also there is a complex structure of salt harvesters made up of independent owners, a co-op and an evil conglomerate. The description of salt harvesting is quite interesting. Things get heated almost at once as the body of the journalist who gave the tip is found murdered and the investigation is on. Luckily a local Commissaire, the very female Rose, receives a call and comes to rescue him. Dupin goes to investigate, is shot at and then is locked in on of the marshes harvest huts with a should wound. Set in the famous salt mines in Brittany France, the descriptions are so vivid that you feel like you are there looking out at miles and miles of white (the salt) and seeing the unique salt harvesting system.Ĭommissaire Dupin receives a tip from a journalist friend that all may be not be well in the marshes and the tip is vague and concentrates on blue buckets. I agree and this book certainly lives up to that criteria. I recently read that a good mystery series has a strong sense of place. More discussion and reviews of this novel: Martin’s Press for the advance reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The mystery itself is not as riveting as the first two, so I’d recommend starting the series in order rather than picking this as the first. As always, this is a travel book as much as it is a mystery, with Bannalec’s writing creating images and scents that bring the Breton landscape to life. Dupin seems less cranky than usual, despite losing out on several chances to enjoy a lamb and fig terrine I rather miss the grouchiness! I expect we’ll see the highly capable Rose again she provides a perfect foil for Dupin’s solitary approach to investigation as he finds her more intriguing than irritating. Suspects, secrets, and lies abound and alibis are shaky indeed! Translated once again by Sorcha McDonagh, this mystery puts a greater focus on Dupin and Rose than the other characters we’ve grown to know – Dupin’s supremely competent assistant Nolwenn, his detectives Riwal and Kadeg, the hated Prefect, and girlfriend Claire all appear but only briefly. We learn all about the sea salt industry in this gorgeous landscape as Dupin and Rose navigate a fragile trust as they try to identify the killer. As with all the books in the series, the setting is vital to the story. Dupin gets permission to work the case, but only with local Commissaire Sylvaine Rose, a woman whose investigative methods both match and rival Dupin’s. The shooter gets away, and the reporter Breval is missing. As he is walking through the marsh, someone starts shooting at him. Technically he is outside his jurisdiction, but it’s a good chance to get out of the office. This time Dupin is looking forward to a relaxing weekend when he swings by a salt marsh to look for some mysterious blue barrels, acting on a tip from a reporter named Lilou Breval. This is the third translated book in the Brittany mystery series featuring our cranky Commissaire Georges Dupin, exiled to Brittany from Paris some five years ago now.
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