Les Clients du Bon Chien jaune (literally "Patrons of the Good Yellow Dog") is a 1926 adventure novel written by French author Pierre Mac Orlan.
In 1756, Louis-Marie Benic is a poor 14 year old, freshly orphaned boy from Brittany (North-Western coast of France). He moves to the port city of Brest, at the inn of his uncle Nicolas Benic called "Le Bon Chien jaune" ("The Good Yellow Dog"). One night, Louis-Marie spies on a conversation between his uncle and a shady ship captain nicknamed "Black Bread". He decides to follow this captain and hides on his ship out of his desire for adventure. Louis-Marie is soon discovered but ends up becoming part of the crew, which turns out to be a crew of pirates.
A particularly macabre adventure awaits Louis-Marie from this point on...
This novel provides examples of the following tropes:
- Boarding Party: Black Bread's crew uses a macabre ruse to make their boardings much easier than a normal attack by day.
- Faking the Dead: Turns out the French crew Black Bread's pirates thought were dead and brought onboard the brig are not. They get up and arrest the pirates.
- Lady of War: The Knight of Kergoez is a woman and ship captain who's sworn to rid the seas of pirates.
- Ominous Pipe Organ: The pirates have an organ onboard, which they play during their macabre masquerade to scare the crews of the ships they board even more.
- Pirate: Black Bread and his crew are pirates, and particularly cruel ones at that.
- Port Town:
- Brest, one of the biggest French port cities at the time. The book's eponymous inn is situated there.
- After the death of the Knight of Kergoez, Louis-Marie inherits her wealth and sets up a trading post in the port town of Pointe-à-Pitre, in Guadeloupe.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Black Bread's pirates disguise themselves with skeleton suits by night when they spot a ship in order to disguise their brig as a Flying Dutchman to scare their preys and make their boarding parties much easier.
