“The omens of death, without a doubt.”

Summer reading. A new intrigue for commissaire Georges Dupin. His twelfth so far. This one set in the windy sand dunes of Aber Wrac’h, the remotest most north westerly, Atlantic facing tip of Brittany, to the east of Plougurneau, a 40 minute drive north from Brest. It is October, the arrival of the Rennete d’Amorique apples, one of the 365 holidays in the Breton year.

There are omens, a death, a false alarm, an attack..as in all the books we start on day one. It is present tense.

There are clues here too that Jean-Luc Bannalec is not just author, but a publisher in Germany, real name Jorg Bong. The cover jackets all have signature mauve and blue pattern, the inside flaps are adorned symbolically with images of magpies. The format is reassuringly strict – each book is set in a different part of Brittany, the landscapes as richly intense as the crimes, we move between vistas and panoramas and sunsets, the case is discussed over glasses of Sancerre and plates of rillettes with titbits of culinary advice slipped in like the recipe for the mayonnaise for the lobster. Dupin himself needs his coffee – two cups, three cups, four cups. To think.

Each of the team is carefully drawn. Nolwenn to protect Dupin from the higher ups, Riwal to speak up for the local history, Kadaig the straight up, proceduralist know-it-all, Nevou the practical sceptic. We follow each clue like so many breadcrumbs. Everyone we meet is given due description down even to their shoes.

And some of these places are real enough. The Hotel La des Baies des Anges where they meet is open for service (£114 a night). And of course the case is bafflingly complex and seemingly unsolvable. There are reviews of others in the series here and here…