All of Louise Penny’s mysteries are excellent, full of deep psychological insights and interesting, often beloved characters. This one is exceptional, however, in that it manages to alternate among four different stories—three contemporary and one historical—without being either confusing or frustrating, something few authors can manage. Penny chose change-over points that felt like natural breaks, so that it wasn’t painful to set aside one fascinating tale in order to pick up another, equally interesting one.
I always recommend reading series in order, so that one can get to know the continuing characters and watch them develop, but in this case it’s particularly important to have read the previous book in Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, The Brutal Telling, before reading this one because one and a half of the stories in the present book grow out of it. The first of these continues the question of who killed the “Hermit” in the forest cabin near Penny’s Brigadoon-like Quebecois village, Three Pines; one of the regular Three Pines characters, bistro owner Olivier, was convicted of the crime at the end of the last book, but Olivier’s devoted partner, Gabri—probably along with a lot of readers—refuses to accept his guilt, so Gamache sends his second-in-command, Beauvoir, to Three Pines to reexamine the case while Gamache is busy elsewhere. The “half” involves appealing young agent Paul Morin, who was introduced in the earlier book; the peril in which Morin (along with Gamache and Beauvoir) finds himself in this story (told in flashbacks) does not grow out of that book, but readers who have read it will care more deeply about what happens to him.
The other two mysteries, one present-day and one historical, center on the oldest parts of Quebec City, the capital of that mostly French-speaking Canadian province. They are Gamache’s, and the book’s, main focus. Penny’s rich descriptions of the Old City make me want to see it for myself someday, and she makes the Canadian history it embodies both clear and fascinating even to those of us whose previous knowledge of it came from dimly remembered social-studies texts. The old and new stories both involve the question of what happened to the body of Samuel de Champlain, the province’s founder, who is to the Quebecois what, say, George Washington is to people in the United States. The book also gives interesting information about the key 1759 battle between the French and the English, fought nearby, that shaped the fate of the province and, indeed, the country. It is a story that resonates with Gamache because both the French and the English generals made important mistakes, just as he feels he did in the terrorist case involving Paul Morin. Echoes of the battle also can still be felt in the still-strained relations between the French-speakers and the English-speakers (now a somewhat embattled minority) in the city, which play a major part in the contemporary mystery.
Penny’s writing, whether describing people or places, is wonderful throughout. This book is not the best place to start on her series, but for those who already have some acquaintance with Gamache, his fellow police officers, and the denizens of Three Pines, I can’t recommend it enough.
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Reviews with images
This is the best yet, yet at times emotionally hard to read
Other reviews say it, but it bears repeating. This is the best yet, yet at times emotionally hard to read. Over the series I have wanted to pack up and move to Three Pines. I have been to Carnaval in Quebec City a few times--it's not far from where I live in Maine. I want to play Ruth in the movie version. Penny gets personalities in all their richness and complexity. I feel like I know these people. And this installment comes along and you have to watch as these "friends" work through considerable and various pain. One must go on to the next one...
Top reviews from other countries
Sally Ferneyhough
wonderful. emotional and raw
Reviewed in Canada on October 7, 2023
