The author is a German, Jörg Bong, who lives between his country and Brittany, France. This is the ninth work in the Brittany Mystery Series starring Commissaire Georges Dupin.
It is the first days of summer in Saint-Malo, former homeland of corsairs and now a culinary paradise. For Inspector Dupin, it could be a great excursion if it weren't for the seminar in which he participates along with the region's prefects and police commissioners. While strolling through the market in the old city, he witnesses a murder and the escape of the culprit. She is the sister of the victim and both are famous chef cooks in the Costa Smeralda. The situation is complicated by other deaths that occur in Cancale, the city of oysters, on the aristocratic beach of Dinard and in the gastronomic world of Saint-Malo. A troika of commissioners join forces to unravel old family secrets and their unbelievably tragic implications.
The author's sympathy for French Brittany is usual in his works. This time he takes pleasure in describing the culinary specialties and restaurants of the Costa Smeralda.
The author makes clear the ethical level of the characters, some of whom are driven by greed and desire for revenge. There are no inconvenient descriptions.