Different, but delightful! That's my reaction after reading this, the third book in a series featuring French Commissaire Georges Dupin (Brittany Mystery Series). Although I have not read the other two, this one sounded so intriguing that I requested, and was approved for, an advance review copy from the publisher via NetGalley. And it turned out to be an excellent choice - a wonderful change of pace, in many ways, from my usual fare of police/detective/murder mysteries.
Make no mistake, though - it's in the same genre - but somehow the setting in the salt gardens near the Medieval town of Guerande gave it a more mondain (a.k.a., worldly) air. As the story begins, Dupin has come to the salt ponds at the request of his friend, journalist Lilou Breval. He is, she told him, to look for blue plastic barrels amid the ponds and small farmers' huts that dot the surroundings. As he pokes around in the surroundings that are totally unfamiliar to him, mon dieu! Bullets begins to fly in his direction, one of which hits its mark.
Not seriously wounded, Dupin begins his getaway, but suddenly the local police show up - most notably in the person of investigator Sylvaine Rose, who isn't happy to find an officer from another department trespassing on her territory. But then, with the unexplained disappearance of Dupin's friend Lilou, comes an uneasy truce; the two investigators and their teams are ordered to work together to find out who shot at Dupin and why and what has happened to Lilou.
When the latter investigation doesn't end well, sacre bleu! The situation goes from bad to worse - leading to all sorts of questions about interactions among the owners of the various salt ponds and what's really going on. In between it's fun to watch the often reluctant interactions between Dupin and Rose and learn more about salt than I ever imagined possible. All told, a very enjoyable experience.
The Fleur de Sel Murders by Jean-Luc Bannalec (Minotaur Books, April 2018); 304 pp.
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