“The corridor was filled with rainbows. Giddy prisms. Bouncing off the hard stone walls. Pooling on the slate floors. They shifted and merged and separated, as though alive. The Chief Inspector knew his mouth had dropped open, but he didn’t care. He’d never, in a life of seeing many astonishing things, seen anything quite like this. It was like walking into joy.”
No outsiders are ever admitted to a remote monastery deep in the Quebec wilderness where two dozen cloistered monks are devoted to singing ancient chants so profound, they are referred to as “the beautiful mystery.” However, when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery’s massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Quebec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence and discord in harmony. Penny based the novel on a real monastery called Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. This is the first time the murder mystery hasn’t been set wholly in the town of Three Pines and I found that a refreshing break. Nevertheless, the town has become almost a character in itself, and I will look forward to getting back there when I go on to How the Light Gets In, also because the end is shocking and heartbreaking and I have to find out what happens next!
As always, the solving of the case is only one aspect of the novel. There is also the ongoing tension between the detectives on the case, stemming back to a police raid gone wrong, and further escalating corruption within the Sûreté itself. Politics within the police force threatens to undermine Gamache’s authority and evil forces threaten his reputation. Gamache remains steadfast in his determination to keep his head down and focus on his work, but it’s getting harder, and it’s getting personal. For this reason it is imperative that the books in this series be read in order. I do feel as the series progresses, the books are getting better and Penny is really finding her stride. This one was a beautifully written mystery indeed!
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