Shari Garmise

I decided to write a mystery novel – one with spec and romance elements because I enjoy mixing genres – it feels more like life and how life works.

As part my mystery writing journey, I decided to also review books to understand what I like and don’t like in plots, characters, locations, and world-building. I will kick it off with a book in the Brittany Mystery series by Jean-Luc Bannalec. I’ve read six of the eleven published books. The Killing Tide is the fifth in the Series. I haven’t read them in order but by availability in the library. That works very well. The books work stand alone.

Brittany is a central character in the series. We see it through the eyes of the Parisian transplant, Georges Dupin, a Commissaire de police, who runs the police station out of Concarneau. He is grumpy, caffeine dependent, and wants everything done all at once, yesterday, and has a way too perfect girlfriend, Clare, who only a male author could have written. Dupin falls in love with Brittany and through him, so did I. It now tops my list of must-see places.

Brittany is not just a land of beauty, fine cuisine, ocean views and cobblestone streets. It is a land of deep history, mysticism and Celtic mythology, truths Dupin’s team, all born and raised Bretons, never lets him forget. Each book brings in that mystery and myth, which is why in my quest to write a spec mystery, this book sneaks in. Because Brittany would not allow otherwise.

In this book, Dupin finds himself on Ile de Sein, an island of the Breton coast known for rough waters, to deal with the horrific deaths of two women – a fisherwoman and a dolphin researcher – both with their throats cut. A third body, also with a slit throat, is found shortly after on the mainland. The corpse is an expert on Ys, a mythical city once purported to sit on the Breton coast. Ys was reclaimed by the sea – a Celtic Atlantis. Throw in pirates, smugglers, a condescending harbor mistress, the curator of the island museum and the research institute staff and you have a colorful cast of potential murderers.

What worked for me about the book?

Brittany, Ys, Il de Sein, all which highlight the distinct historic places within a unique region, the cuisine that makes your mouth water, the violence of storms on the sea, the way myth is woven into present-day culture, and the mermaid sightings. Who doesn’t love a good mermaid sighting?

What didn’t work for me?

In a nutshell, much felt implausible.

The entire mystery is solved in 48 hours, allowing Dupin to make his mother’s birthday, which he wouldn’t have been able to do if the murder wasn’t solved. Dupin is by nature impatient, and this took his impatience, and the investigation to unrealistic pace – especially as they had to take long boat rides on and off the island. HIs team were miracle workers getting everything done toot suite.

Given the need for boats, hotels, and searches that covered enormous territories requiring bringing in additional police, even talk of using a helicopter, the lack of any budget constraints or challenges also seemed absurd. Police are constrained by resources, and this felt unrealistic.

It included an unncessary curse trope. In a cemetery where one of the bodies is found, Dupin sees five graves when there are only four – a historic curse promising his death in the near future. Of course, his team are always asking after him. But nothing happens, and it’s not tied to Ys which does play an interesting role in the story, so it felt superfluous – thrown in as an extra.

Finally, although we understand why the murderer killed at a 5,000 feet level, we don’t really understand their personal motive for doing so. I found that highly dissatisfying, since the person killed three people.

My final word?

Do pick up a Brittany mystery, one that appeals. They are fun reads. I plan to continue reading them. But I wouldn’t start with this one.