Cantankerous Parisian-born Commissaire Georges Dupin is dragged away from his coffee and croissant one morning to the scene of a curious murder;'1-year-old hotelier Pierre-Louis Pennec has been found dead in his restaurant. The killing shatters the peace of Pont-Aven, a Breton village where everyone knows everyone and nothing much ever happens. In his first outing, the enigmatic Dupin raises a few eyebrows with his unconventional methods, launching an investigation that will dig below the calm veneer of the idyllic village. Writing under the name Jean-Luc Bannalec, German author Jorg Bong impressively evokes the atmosphere of rural France in this 2012 debut novel, published in the U.S. as Death in Brittany.

"Roll over Maigret, Commissaire Dupin has arrived."—M.C. Beaton