The Fleur de Sel Murders

February 12, 2018
The tightly regulated and lucrative salt trade is the spark for the intriguing plot of Bannalec’s third Brittany mystery to be translated into English (after 2016’s Murder on Brittany Shores). Commissaire Georges Dupin, who’s been deskbound for weeks, welcomes the request of Lilou Breval, a journalist who’s helped the police in the past, to take a look around a salt pond and a nearby hut where she saw “something very fishy.” When an unknown shooter hits Dupin in the shoulder at the scene, the case becomes personal. But this is not his jurisdiction, and Dupin must work with Sylvaine Rose, the local commissaire. He’s desperate to speak with Breval, but she has disappeared, so Dupin and Rose start talking to those involved in the highly competitive salt trade without her. When a body is found, the inquiry turns into a murder investigation. Multiple red herrings draw readers off the scent. Well-drawn, complex characters, the lovingly described countryside, and the area’s culinary bounty make this a winner. Some fans will be inspired to take their next vacation in Brittany.

February 15, 2018
Commissaire Georges Dupin (Murder on Brittany Shores, 2016, etc.) strays off his patch to probe a murder in the salt marshes of Guerande.The White Land is almost impossible to describe. Its light, filtered by clouds and reflected upward by the shallow pools of the salt gardens, its scent of seawater, iodine, and "a curious fragrance of violets" that fills the air after the harvest of the most delicate sea salt, fleur de sel, combine to form a landscape that even sturdy, sensible folk like Dupin's secretary, Nolwenn, swear is the work of the fairies. But it's not fairies who shoot at Dupin when he finds himself on Maxime Daeron's salt farm; it's someone who wants to stop him from investigating a report from his friend Lilou Breval, a journalist with Ouest-France, of suspicious blue barrels out on the marshes. Dupin won't be stopped, not by a painful flesh wound that sends him briefly to the hospital, not by the death of Lilou, whose body is found in Gulf of Morbihan, not even by the realization that the salt flats are in the Department Loire-Atlantique and therefore out of his jurisdiction. Instead, he teams up with charming, determined Commissaire Sylvaine Rose of the Commissariat de Police Guerande. Dupin's delicate negotiation of his necessary but challenging relationship with Rose, his careful but unobtrusive detailing of the mechanics of salt farming, and his growing affection for the landscape of Brittany are just some of the joys of his latest outing.Bannelec's Breton adventures are some of the best French local color going, with a deft blend of puzzle, personality, and description of the indescribable.

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March 15, 2018
The title refers to the highly prized sea salt (the flower of the salt ) harvested in Brittany. In this, the fourth mystery starring Commissaire Georges Dupin, an unwilling transplant from Paris who has grown to love Brittany, one of Dupin's informants, a journalist friend, Lilou Breval, urges Dupin to inspect a particular part of the salt marshes for barrels with suspicious contents. Then Dupin suffers a gunshot wound, and Breval's body is found later at low tide. Dupin's investigation hinges on uncovering what the journalist was working on: the existence of a salt war between powerful rivals. This is an exciting, well-plotted mystery, but it suffers somewhat from a clumsy translation from the French that is often stilted and repetitive, as in the statement that Dupin couldn't identify the local birds since his ornithological knowledge was lacking. Even so, Bannalec's mystery is a worthy addition to contemporary mysteries set in France, like those set in the Dordogne (by Martin Walker) and Aix-en-Provence (by M. L. Longworth). A fascinating glimpse into salt harvesting, with exciting action.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)