Louise Penny Archive

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny

Posted April 5, 2013 By dorolerium

Title: The Cruelest Month
Author: Louise Penny
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 320
How I Read It: Paperback purchased by me.

Synopsis: Welcome to Three Pines, where the cruelest month is about to deliver on its threat.  It’s spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth.  However, not everything is meant to return to life…

When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the old Hadley house, one of their party dies of fright.  Was this a natural death, or was it murder? Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called to investigate, and the case will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.

*Synopsis taken from the back of the book

My Review: Any time I read one of Louise Penny’s novels set in Three Pines, I fall in love with the village all over again.  And then I feel terrible that all of these awful things keep happening there!  Despite these murders, it’s the kind of village I’d like to spend some time in, although I’m not quite sure I’d fit in.

This time around, a woman called Madeline, who is adored by pretty much everyone, dies of fright at a séance.  Initially, everyone believes it was just a tragic accident, but the arrival of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache gets the villagers to realize that maybe her death was more of an intentional thing after all.

Gamache himself is dealing with some personal/professional drama because of a case from a few years back, which is starting to resurface.  Those things were particularly heartbreaking for me because I absolutely adore Gamache and I really hate seeing anyone deliberately hurt him.

For me, reading these novels is all about the characters and their interpersonal relationships with each other.  Sure, there’s a mystery afoot that needs to be solved, but I’m equally interested in the interactions between Gamache and his number two man, Jean Guy; the way the relationship between Peter and Clara changes as she becomes more successful; and pretty much any time anyone interacts with Ruth, it’s a hoot.  These characters are all like living, breathing people, and Louise Penny really makes it seem like if you’re lucky enough to find Three Pines, these people are waiting for you.  I would love to stay at Gabri’s B&B!

The scene of the murder is the scary old Hadley House, which is a pretty terrifying place for several of the characters because of their history in the house.  Readers who have been following the series from book one will probably also have some lingering feelings about it – it’s a little like reading about the Amityville house, or some other famous scary place like that.  It made for a really good murder setting, and the creep factor is increased as the mystery becomes more intricate.

I always feel like the plot is really believable in these novels too, it’s never that something incredibly outrageous happens that requires suspending a lot of disbelief.  The beauty is that the story itself is just so lovely that I don’t think I’d care even if they did all get to that level.  In my mind, that makes for almost a perfect mystery!  Plus this was a great time of year to read it, because it’s spring, and April isn’t far off, so it was very seasonally appropriate during my reading.

Read this book if: I will never hesitate to recommend Louise Penny to someone, so definitely pick it up if you like a nice murder mystery.  The character background from the other novels is helpful, but not necessary, and I also like that.

My Rating: 4/5 – Borderline amazing!

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A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

Posted March 16, 2012 By dorolerium

Title: A Fatal Grace
Author: Louise Penny
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 320
How I Read It: Paperback purchased by me.

Synopsis: No one liked CC de Poitiers – not her family, not her lover, not her neighbors in Three Pines.  Still, when Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called to investigate CC’s sudden death on the day after Christmas, it seems like an impossible murder.  How could she have been electrocuted in the midst of a curling match in Three Pines – and without anyone seeing a thing?

A Quebec winter is not only beautiful but deadly, as Gamache digs for dangerous secrets beneath the surface of village life, while something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.

My Review: Several years ago, I read my first Louise Penny novel and instantly became a huge fan of her writing.  Before reading this one, I briefly looked at what other fans thought of it, and I saw that some didn’t like this one as well as the others.

I’m saying right now – do not listen to them!  I see where they’re coming from, CC is truly despicable and the reader, like CC’s peers, will not really feel any sympathy for her.  I certainly don’t wish anyone ill, whether they are real people or fictional, but sometimes someone just has something coming to them.  Rather than feeling extremely sad about CC being murdered, we instead get to see how her behavior in life affected those around her, and that is what inspired sympathy in me.

As a result of CC’s general life attitude, most of the people in this book have a motive for murder.  The people of Three Pines, who are usually so loving and caring, have a general consensus that she is very unpleasant and doesn’t fit in.  Some of them have been crushed by CC in one way or another, providing the potential motive for them.  And for others, you have to look a little deeper.

Three Pines is a closely knit community, but it’s also one of secrets.  Most of the people who live there aren’t natives to the area, and haven’t really revealed their full past to their neighbors and friends.  Even the ones who have lived there keep their secrets close.  It provides a very interesting setting that combines both the small town community where people know each other so well, and the opportunity for something horrific to occur and that same group of people coming together to keep that secret.

Anyone who has read this series will be a bit familiar with most of the cast of characters – we were introduced to a lot of them in the first book in this series, Still Life, and because it’s the same community, the reader can appreciate the way they all work together.  I loved returning to them, the story made me wish I was a vacationer in Three Pines!

Chief Inspector Gamache is as wonderful as always.  He’s the kind of fatherly figure everyone wants to have in their lives, such a charming and wonderful man who has an endless capacity for good.  We get a little more information about the case that has been haunting Gamache, just enough to wonder how it will develop further in the next book.

This is by far one of my favorite mystery series, I absolutely love it and each book has me wishing I had the time to read the next one right away.

Read this book if: I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.  Although you don’t have to start at the first book, I would recommend it simply so you can go on this journey with the characters.

My Rating: 4/5 – Borderline amazing!

Filed in 2012, Louise Penny, Royal Reviews | Tagged:

Still Life by Louise Penny

Posted August 26, 2011 By dorolerium

Title: Still Life
Author: Louise Penny
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 320
How I Read It: Paperback purchased by me

Synopsis: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team of investigators are called to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal and yet a world away.  Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, has been found dead in the woods on Thanksgiving morning.  The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul this holiday season…

My Review: I was pulled into this book from the first two sentences:

Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday.  It was pretty much a surprise all round.

Isn’t that a great way to start out a murder mystery?

Even though Jane is obviously dead from the very first sentence, I felt that I knew her by the end of the novel, simply from the descriptions of her by other characters as the investigation of her murder takes place.  And in the meantime, we’re introduced to the cast of characters that will become more central to the Armand Gamache series as it continues.

I read my first Louise Penny book in this series last year, starting with the fifth book without exactly realizing it was a series.  Similar to Agatha Christie mysteries, while it can be helpful to understand the characters from previous novels, that was a stand alone and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything.  However, I decided I wanted to start these from the start, because I loved my first experience so much.

This novel was entirely up to my expectations, which can be pretty rare.  I was a little worried that I would be disappointed by it, that this was a case where the author had gotten better over time and earlier works may not have been so great.  But I shouldn’t have worried, because I absolutely loved this book.  I was pulled into this mystery, wishing I was there and that I knew the characters in person.  I’m not really a small town kind of gal, I hate the idea of everyone I run into knowing who I am, but these people are just so charming that I absolutely wish I could be a part of their lives!

I don’t like to try and figure the mystery out on my own, so I didn’t see the end coming at all, and it really made the experience more enjoyable for me.  I love just sitting back and watching a story unfold before me – this one did that beautifully.  As much as I love summer time, it did make me yearn for the fall when our own leaves will be changing and the weather getting more crisp.  And since this is the first of now six books, I feel I have a lot to look forward to as the seasons progress and I have the chance to read further into this series.  In fact, it’s hard to stop myself from running right out and buying them right now!

My Rating: 4/5 – Borderline Amazing!

Read this book if: You love mysteries or Agatha Christie.  You won’t be disappointed!

Filed in 2011, Louise Penny, Royal Reviews | Tagged:

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

Posted October 19, 2010 By dorolerium

*Cover image and synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.

Synopsis: Chaos is coming, old son.

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness.

No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him?

As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures— from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word “WOE” woven in it—lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.

My Review: I had no expectations going into this book, not really even an idea of what it was about.  I hadn’t ever read anything by this author, and I hadn’t heard of Armand Gamache in my life.  So imagine my surprise at how much I really liked this book, a feeling that started a couple of chapters in and stayed with me the whole time!

Typically when reading a book in a “series”, I like to read it in order to get all the details.  Luckily, this isn’t so much a “series” as it is more like an Agatha Christie character – you may not know everything about them, but you likewise don’t need to have read the other books to understand the characters.  Which I loved, because Armand Gamache was a charming Chief Inspector who I would be happy to spend more time with going forward.

The setting is the lovely Canadian village of Three Pines, a picturesque little town where unfortunate things seem to happen on a regular basis.  While it doesn’t go into much detail, the reader understands that dreadful things have happened in Three Pines before, and it’s all come back.  It’s clear from the start that someone in Three Pines had something to do with the murder of the stranger – but who?

We’re lead through a cast of very interesting and unique characters, people from all over the world, looking for happiness and solace, who find their way to Three Pines to settle down in the Canadian forest.  Poets, artists, bakers, former investors, Czech immigrants – all become suspects in the horrendous murder as they all have something to potentially gain from it as secrets come out.

I’m not one of those readers who has to figure out the mystery before the detectives in the story do, so I was just along for the ride as Chief Inspector Gamache and his team tried to unravel this brutal telling.  That being said, like the characters in the book, I was not convinced that the correct conclusion had been reached by the investigators, but also wondered what other ending there could have been.  To me, it seems like a lot of murder mysteries in real life are like this – the evidence tells you one thing and is pretty conclusive, yet your heart feels differently.

Read this book if: I think fans of mystery novels will enjoy this book, and I definitely recommend it to people familiar with Louise Penny.  I, for one, will be looking for more Armand Gamache to fill my shelves!

Full disclosure: I received this book as an advanced reading copy from the publisher, Minotaur Books.  This has in no way affected my review, and I was not compensated for this review in any way.

Filed in 2010, ARC, Louise Penny, Royal Reviews | Tagged: