This is the first book in the Commissaire Dupin series set in Brittany, France. I absolutely did not know anything about this region in France other than this is the place where a lot of famous sailors originated from. (For example Jacques Cartier), It was also a place that used to be part of Britain in the Middle Ages. The book provides so many descriptive explanations of the country, the people and the food that Brittany almost seemed to be a character in the book. Georges Dupin is a curmudgeonly but endearing copper in the region. I can't wait to read more about his future exploits after reading this book. It opens with the shocking discovery of the body of a reputable and respected 90-year-old hotelier found in his hotel kitchen. Pierre-Louis Pennec's family goes back generations in this area of the world. I also didn't know about the Brittany region's long-standing reputation as the place where many famous painters painted some of their best works. The combination of murder, family squabbles, fabulous paintings and note-worthy food , as well as outstanding views of the sea and countryside couldn't fail but enthral me. The mystery is a tricky one, the characters are real and Georges Brunel on the case--tied all together made for an intriguing and enjoyable read. ( )

Es una espléndida mañana de julio, y Georges Dupin, comisario de policía, toma su primer café en la cafeteríade Concarneau, un pequeño pueblo de la costa bretona.Hace exactamente dos años y siete meses que fue «desterrado» de París por sus jefes, que lo trasladaron a esta región. A Dupin le parece el fin del mundo; en este idílico destino turístico nunca pasa nada. En ese momento una llamada rompe la rutina: tiene que ir a la localidad vecina de Pont-Aven. Acaban de encontrar el cadáver de Pierre-Louis Pennec, el propietario del legendario Hotel Central donde se alojaron, en su tiempo, Paul Gauguin y otros grandes artistas. ¿Quién querría asesinar a un afable anciano de noventa y un años? Y sobre todo, ¿por qué? El comisario Dupin —tenaz, independiente, amante del café y el buen comer, y al que le encantan los pinguïnos— es un investigador que confía más en interrogar a los posibles sospechosos, plantear la pregunta inesperada e ir enlazando las pistas que en los grandes juegos de artificio de la policía científica. Cuando alguien intenta acceder al escenario del crimen y un cadáver aparece en la costa, Dupin sabe que está sobre la pista del asesino y de un secreto muy bien guardado.

The 91 year old hotelier's violent death couldn't have happened at a worse time. The holiday season is about to begin and have the hotel's restaurant closed because it is a crime scene is an inconvenience for many.

The village was once the haunt of Gauguin and other artists and there is a museum that tourists flock too. Most of the hotels including the Central have exhibitions of copies of Gauguin paintings.

Commissaire Georges Dupin is not a local - he only moved to Pont-Aven four years ago- but he thinks he knows the area pretty well. He quickly finds out that the hotelier has recently found out that he had not long to live, and had begun to put his affairs in order. Dupin wonders who also knew that. What dispositions did the will make? Were people happy about their inheritances, or had they come as a shock for some. On the surface of it, apart from the Central hotel itself, and some derelict warehouses, the hotelier did not have a lot of value. His heir is his son who lives locally, and he has a half-brother from whom he has been estranged most of his life.

Dupin also quickly discovers that not everyone is telling him the truth.

Dupin works extraordinarily long days, can't start the day without at least three cups of coffee, is rather cantankerous, and does not relate well either to his superiors or his underlings. He finds it hard to remember to keep everyone in the loop. He expects unquestioning obedience and is fortunate to have a secretary who takes his phone calls and shields him from the worst anger.

The novel takes an extraordinary twist when there is a second death and the field of suspects narrows. ( )

I’m pretty sure I have one of the books in this series floating around a TBR pile somewhere, but I couldn’t remember which one, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t the first one, so I checked it out from the library. If I do have one of the series (and I didn’t give it away) it’s one that I’ve picked up and put right back down again for ages, but the titles always appeal to me, so I made myself read this one.

It was pretty good! Not great, but entertaining, and a pretty solid mystery. The writing style (3rd person) reminds me a little of the Provence mystery series written by M.L. Longworth, although I suspect that’s more just the power of suggestion (one series set in Provence, the other in Brittany) than any actual resemblance. But I’d class these as traditional mysteries, not cozy; they’re all about the mystery plots and very little about the characters, although the descriptions of the countryside were a little eye glazing.

The main character of the book is an obvious tip of the hat to Poe, as his name is Dupin. To my everlasting relief, however, he is as unlike his classic namesake as can be. There’s no expounding, or soapbox monologues; the mystery plot spans 4 days and every one of them is non-stop showing and almost no telling. A Gaugin masterpiece is at the centre of the murder plot, and mysteries about art are catnip for me, so when it felt slow going, the art kept me reading. I say slow going, but that’s not really accurate; the book isn’t divided into chapters, but the 4 days of the investigation, and if you’re a stop-at-the-end-of-a-chapter reader like I am, discovering the first ‘chapter’ is 97 pages long makes it feel like it’s taking forever. Once I figured that out, I adjusted my habits and the book and I got along much better.

I’m definitely interested in the rest of the series. I need to figure out if I do, indeed, have a book and which one it is, and whether or not my library has the entire series or is going to torture me with random entries. No matter though, I definitely have a new series to look forward to.

Traditional, but engaging. ( )