The Fleur de Sel Murders

Commissaire Dupin is following a lead from a journalist friend when he is shot at in the salt pools of Brittany. In The Fleur de Sel Murders by Jean-Luc Bannalec, journalist Lilou Breval tells Dupin she believes something strange is going on in the salt pools. She has seen blue barrels in the pools, but doesn't know what is in them.

When Lilou disappears and Dupin cannot find the barrels, he is assigned to the missing persons case along with Commissaire Sylvaine Rose. Dupin, who has been transferred from Paris to Brittany, is not used to work with others and sometimes he and Rose seem at cross purposes.

When Lilou's body is discovered, Dupin and Rose find themselves enmeshed in a web of lies, conflicts of interest and murder.

Half of the salt pools are owned by a consortium of locals, the other half are owned by a large

corporation. One salt pool is owned by an independent named Maxime Daeron. The salt pools are tended in much the same way they have been cultivated in the White Land for generations. It's a stunning sight to see. Le Sel, the corporation, has been trying to purchase the consortium's salt pools, but the owners are resisting.

When Daeron is found dead of an apparent suicide after relating he had been having an affair with Lilou, Dupin thinks they may have solved Lilou's murder, but what of the blue barrels.

Digging deeper, Dupin and Rose discover everything is not what it seems in the White Land, leading to an exciting climax.