The Breton setting would be enough, but there’s a fine mystery too…
I’ve read most of the titles in Jean-Luc Bannalec’s Commissaire Dupin series – at least, most of those that have been translated into English. And I’ve liked all that I’ve read. After all, what’s not to like about gorgeous countryside, wonderful food, Breton culture, and Dupin’s wry, almost fatalistic, take on life – paired with a mystery, of course? So I was very happy to receive a review copy of the latest book to come out in English, An Island of Suspects. And it’s every bit as enjoyable as I expected it to be.
As Island opens, Dupin has made an unusual friend, an Atlantic gray seal who seems to enjoy frolicking with him on his daily swims. However, on this particular morning, Dupin’s visit with his buddy is interrupted by one of his inspectors, Riwal. It seems there’s a dead body caught in some fishing lines in the channel at Doëlin. Dupin and his team find out rather quickly that the murdered man, Patric Provost, lives on Belle-Île, just off the coast of Brittany, and furthermore, that he’s probably both the wealthiest and the most hated man on the island.
Dupin, who hates boats as much as he likes swimming, tries hard not to have to leave the mainland for the case, but of course he has to go. And he’s even less amused when it turns out that Riwal has the fervor of a true Belle-Île-convert, and spends most of the two-hour trip extolling the island’s otherworldly beauty and virtues. Once they arrive, however, it seems the island really is an almost mystical place unto itself, which both helps and hinders the investigation. As you might expect, given Provost’s character, there are plenty of suspects, hence the title. But eventually Dupin and his team figure it all out, finishing just in time (no pressure!) for the celebration that Dupin’s admin-and-source-of-info-about-all-things-Breton, Nolwenn, has set up for his tenth anniversary in Brittany.
I’ve always enjoyed the Dupin books as much for their descriptions of Brittany as for the mysteries. And An Island of Suspects is no exception: both the settings and the case are great. So just go read this book. Finally, my thanks go to St Martins/Minotaur and NetGalley for the review copy…
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