Excerpt from Death in Brittany by Jean-Luc Bannalec, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

'Inform me?'

Dupin hung up. He had no desire to devote even a moment's thought to this. Thank God he was too tired to get properly worked up about it. Dupin couldn't stand Guenneugues. What's more, he still had no idea how to pronounce his name, which admittedly was not an infrequent occurrence for him where Bretons were concerned. This often landed him in embarrassing situations since he had to deal with people all day.

Dupin turned back to his paper. The Ouest France and the Télégramme, those were the two big local papers and they were devoted to Brittany in a way that was both affectionate and proud; after a page of very concise international and national news dealing swiftly with world events, there followed thirty pages of regional and local, mostly very local, reports. Commissaire Dupin loved both papers. After his 'relocation' he had, at first unwillingly but then with growing interest, begun his study of the Breton soul. Next to meeting the people, it was these small, seemingly insignificant stories which had taught him the most. Stories about life at the 'End of World', the 'finis terra' as the Romans – those invaders! – had called the most remote tip of this wild, craggy peninsula that stretched out into the raging Atlantic. It was a name the département retained to this day. Amongst the locals – the Celts! – the land of course wasn't known as the 'End of the World', but in fact its exact opposite: 'Penn ar Bed', literally the 'Head of the World', or 'The Beginning of Everything'.

The phone rang again, and yet again it was Labat.

Dupin could feel the anger rising up inside him despite his fatigue.

'I won't be able to make it tonight, I have things to do, official duties, tell that to Geungeu… tell that to the Prefect.'

'A murder. There's been a murder.'

Labat's voice was quiet and flat.

'What?'

'In Pont-Aven, Monsieur le Commissaire. The owner of the Central Hotel, Pierre-Louis Pennec, was found dead in his restaurant a few minutes ago. The police in Pont- Aven were called.'

'Is this a joke, Labat?'

'Two of our colleagues from Pont-Aven should be there by now.'

'In Pont-Aven? Pierre-Louis Pennec?'

'Excuse me, Monsieur le Commissaire?'

'What else do you know?'

'Only what I've just told you.'

'And it's definitely murder?'

'It certainly looks that way.'

'How so?'

Dupin was annoyed by his own question almost before it had passed his lips.

'I can only tell you what the caller, the hotel chef, told the officer on duty, which he then –'

'Fine. But what's it got to do with us? Pont-Aven is in the Quimperlé jurisdiction – this is Derrien's case.'

'Commissaire Derrien has been on holiday since Monday. We're in charge when it comes to serious matters. That's why the station in Pont-Aven –'

'Okay, okay... I'll head there now. You should too.

And call Le Ber, I want him to come straight away.'

'Le Ber is already on his way.'

'Good… Unbelievable. Fucking hell.'

'Monsieur le Commissaire?'

Dupin hung up.

'I've got to go,' he called in Lily's direction, but she was engrossed in a telephone call. Dupin placed a few coins on the bar and left the Amiral. His car was parked in the big car park on the waterfront just a short walk away.


'Absurd,' thought Dupin as he sat in his car, 'this is absolutely absurd.' A murder in Pont-Aven, at the height of summer, just as the tourist season was about to turn the village into a big open-air museum, as they said so scornfully in Concarneau. Pont-Aven was an idyllic place. It must be years since the last murder in this picturesque – to Dupin's taste much too picturesque – village. At the end of the nineteenth century it became known around the world for its artists' colony, largely because of Paul Gauguin who was of course its most prominent member. Now Pont-Aven turned up in every French guidebook and every history of modern art. And on top of this, the elderly Pierre-Louis Pennec was a legendary hotelier, an institution, just like his father before him, and indeed his grandmother, the famous founder of the Central, Marie- Jeanne Pennec before that.

Excerpted from Death in Brittany by Jean-Luc Bannalec. Copyright © 2015 by Jean-Luc Bannalec. Excerpted by permission of Minotaur Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.