Review of "An Island of Suspects: A Brittany Mystery" by Jean-Luc Bannalec

In this 10th book in the 'Brittany Mystery' series, Commissaire Dupin investigates the murder of a wealthy sheep farmer from Belle-Île, an island off the coast of Brittany, France. The book works fine as a standalone.

Brittany is in northwest France


Belle-Île is off the coast of Brittany

*****

Commissaire Georges Dupin, who started his police career in Paris, has been a Breton detective (detective in Brittany) for ten years.



Dupin loves his home on coastal Brittany, and revels in the blue and green sea, where he swims each morning with the gray seal who's befriended him.





One morning the Breton sea contains more than marine creatures. The body of Patric Provost, a native of Belle-Île, is found in the harbor at Doëlan, where Patric was visiting his uncle.



Commissaire Dupin and his team are quickly dispatched to Belle-Île, a gorgeous little island with a riot of colors everywhere the eye can see.





Dupin's squad learns that Provost was a VERY wealthy sheep farmer/landowner/landlord on Belle-Île, and that everyone who knew Patric disliked him.



The residents of the island describe Patric as a skinflint who relished in thwarting people's hopes and dreams. For example, Provost refused to repair his run-down, leaky rental properties; prevented his tenants from expanding their businesses; wouldn't allow other sheep farmers to acquire new breeds, etc.

Now that Provost is dead, there are new opportunities for many people on Belle-Île. Moreover, Provost's last will and testament leaves his entire fortune, millions of Euros, to the island's wind energy project. This scheme is is meant to make Belle-Île self-sufficient with green energy. The wind turbine enterprise, led by the mayor, can now go ahead full steam!!



Since Patric's murder benefits almost everyone on Belle-Île, there are a plethora of suspects. Dupin and his detectives get busy interviewing people, checking their alibis, looking into their finances, and so on, in hopes of identifying the killer.





The mystery at the heart of the novel is intriguing, but it's almost secondary to descriptions of beautiful Belle-Île, and anecdotes about the region and its history. As it happens, a member of Dupin's team, Inspector Riwal, has relatives on Belle-Île, and Riwal is a font of knowledge about the island.



As the investigators go about their business, Riwal is frequently reminded of appropriate stories to relate. For instance, Riwal observes:

"The island is seventeen and half kilometers long, and nine kilometers at its widest point....Belle-Île is much more than an island. It's a realm. Even though it's merely 'a few hectares of land in the ocean' as we islanders say, it's an entire continent in its own right."

"The original Acadians who came to Belle-Île in the late 1700s were inspired by ancient mythical Arcadia, and its utopia of a golden era, the idea of a peaceful, carefree pastoral life in harmony with the island's idyllic nature and beauty."


Mythic Arcadia

"No other island has attracted so many artists: Monet, Rodin, Matisse, Sarah Bernhardt, Jacques Prévert. Gustave Flaubert. The island is surrounded by an aura of liberalism and artistic spirit, of immense freedom and creative anarchy."

And more.


One of Claude Monet's paintings of Belle-Île

There are also descriptions of Belle-Île's spectacular scenery, wandering sheep, tourist attractions, and historic artifacts - like the two menhirs (upright monoliths) called Jean and Jeanne, said to have been a man and a woman.


Menhirs: Jean and Jeanne

The myth goes as follows: Jean was the son of a holy bard and Jeanne was a poor shepherdess. They were in love, but forbidden to have a relationship. So the leader of the druids told witches to turn Jean and Jeanne into stones, far away from each other. Some people believe the monoliths are slowly moving closer together, and their meeting will bring about the end of times.

Author Jean-Luc Bannalec skillfully evokes the atmosphere of Belle-Île, including the scorching summer heat and the kaleidoscopic sights. To illustrate: "The island capital lay on a ria too, you could see the inlet making its way inland. The little town - narrow streets, beautiful old houses in pastel tones: pink, light blue, light green, yellow....It looked like a film set. Cafés, bars, restaurants, shops, a leisurely to and fro without any hurry or haste."



All the major characters in the book are interesting and fun, especially Commissaire Dupin, a coffee addict who's constantly in search of his next great cup of java. Dupin's neverending quest is very entertaining....and he does find the perfect cup of coffee.





The mystery of Patric Provost's death, as well as auxiliary blackmailings and kidnappings, are solved in the end, and Dupin's team returns home to Brittany to celebrate the Commissaire's ten year anniversary as a Breton detective.

This is a charming little mystery, off the beaten track. Recommended for light reading.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jean-Luc Bannalec, and Minotaur Books for a copy of the book. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Silent Man: A John Wells Espionage Thriller" by Alex Berenson

In Alex Berenson's 'John Wells' novels, Wells is a CIA agent whose mission is to stop terrorists.



In this 3rd book in the series, Wells has had too much exposure in Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Russia, etc. to be 'undercover', and he's living outside Washington DC with his fiancée, fellow CIA agent Jennifer Exley.



Wells is on the 'enemies' list of many rogue countries, and his and Exley's residence is guarded 24/7.



Unfortunately, John and Jennifer are more vulnerable when they're out and about, and an attack when the duo are driving to work leaves Jennifer badly injured, facing a long hospitalization and painful rehab.





Wells learns the strike was ordered by Russian arms dealer Pierre Kowalski.....



.....and John sets out to track down and kill the Russian, probably in the most painful way possible.



Meanwhile, a catastrophic situation is brewing elsewhere. Middle Eastern terrorists have formed a cabal, and mean to destroy both the United States and Russia.



The fanatics manage to steal two nuclear bombs from a Russian armory (a feat that's described step-by-step in the book, in case you want to try it.)





The Middle Eastern zealots don't have the Russian nuclear codes, so they are going to extract the uranium from the purloined bombs and build their own device (this procedure is also described step-by-step).



The fanatics plan to bomb Washington DC during the State of the Union address, which will wipe out the entire U.S. government. If this doesn't work out, the bombers have alternate targets in mind.



To insure the biggest possible explosion, the terrorists need a good quantity of beryllium, which they hope to buy from Pierre Kowalski.



Thus we have all the players in place - John Wells, Pierre Kowalski, and the Middle Eastern zealots.

Of course this is the bare bones of the plot, which is intricate, suspenseful, and more or less realistic. (Terrorists should know detonating an enormous bomb would blow back on the Middle East, AT LEAST with the devastating fallout circling the world. The fanatics in this novel don't seem bothered about this, but it's fiction after all.)





All the major characters in the story - including the Americans, Russians, and Middle Easterners -are well-rounded, with motivations that make sense to themselves. The book is a page turner, and I was on tenterhooks to find out what would happen.

One thing is clear: it would be good to have John Wells around in an emergency.



Well-constructed story, recommended to fans of espionage thrillers.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Deadline: A Virgil Flowers Thriller" by John Sandford

 

Virgil Flowers thrillers are spinoffs from John Sandford's 'Prey' series featuring Lucas Davenport - the lead investigator for Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).



Virgil Flowers is also a detective for the BCA, and Lucas is his boss. In this 8th book in the 'Virgil Flowers' series, the investigator gets involved in three cases, which range from dogs to drugs to murder.



*****

As the novel opens, these are dark days for dog lovers in southeast Minnesota. A ring of dog thieves are kidnapping pooches from their homes and selling them on the black market and to research labs. One of the dognappers is a scoundrel called D. Wayne Sharf, who's adept at snatching canines.



D. Wayne has just stolen Winky Butterfield's two beloved black labs, and Winky is bereft, angry, and vengeful.



Flowers' fishing buddy Johnson Johnson asks Virgil to catch the dog thieves and retrieve the missing canines, or else a group of vigilantes will take the law into their own hands.



Flowers' hunt for the stolen dogs takes him up into the hills of southeast Minnesota.....



.....where Virgil comes across a commercial meth lab housed in a trailer.



While Virgil is combing the Minnesota bluffs for stolen dogs and drug manufacturers, he happens to meet a local boy called Muddy Ruff. Muddy is an observant, rifle-toting twelve-year-old who knows the area well, and the boy is very helpful to Virgil and the drug-busting Feds.



While all this going on, a murder occurs in Trippton, Minnesota. The victim is a journalist called Clancy Connelly, who has unearthed an embezzlement scheme being perpetrated by the Buchanon County School Board.



The school board members - ALL of whom are supposedly upstanding citizens - have been stealing at least one million dollars per year by inflating prices for gas (for school buses) and by perpetrating other larcenous schemes.



When the school board members learn Connelly is about to expose them, they hold a meeting and vote to kill him. Connelly is shot in the back before he can file his report, and Flowers is called in to investigate.



Flowers soon becomes suspicious of the school board, and he takes steps - sometimes involving threats - to unmask the board members as thieves and killers.



The embezzlers become exceedingly nervous, which leads to more homicides, and Virgil himself becomes a target. (Who knew school boards were so ruthless‽‽)



The Virgil Flowers novels mix humor with crime-solving, and "That F****n' Flowers" (Virgil's nickname) is a fierce investigator with a heart of gold.



Even dogs know this, which leads to a great finale for this thriller.



This is a good suspense novel, highly recommended.

Rating: 3.5 stars