Death in Brittany

Francophiles and art lovers will welcome Bannalec’s good old-fashioned detective story set in Brittany. When a prominent hotel owner, Pierre-Louis Pennec, is found stabbed to death in his restaurant in the village of Pont-Aven, Commissaire Georges Dupin, a former Paris policeman exiled to what he considers a backwater, investigates. Why would someone kill a terminally-ill nonagenarian? Pennec and his forebears amassed an impressive collection of art by painters who have frequented Pont-Aven since the end of the 19th century. Could one painting in the collection be a previously unknown Gauguin? The members of Pennac’s small, acrimonious family and the local art society are anxious to find out. Like Simenon’s Maigret, Dupin is a loner, who relies on thorough data and objective analysis to make his deductions. Bannelec excels at plotting and pacing, as well as vivid descriptions of the Finistère countryside. Readers will look forward to seeing more Dupin books from this talented author. [em](June) [/em]