Where there is love there is courage,
where there is courage there is peace,
where there is peace there is God.
And when you have God, you have everything.
See, this quote demonstrates why I love Louise Penny mysteries. They are so much more than a curiosity about who was the murderer and why. There is thoughtfulness, depth of character, beauty of place, appreciation of culture, gentle humour, and lyrical prose. Three Pines has become a retreat of sorts to me, a place to escape to that is familiar when I’ve just traveled through a number of other books. Of course, there is always a gruesome murder to contend with once there, but again, Penny handles that deftly and compassionately. In this instalment I loved Inspector Gamache’s trip to Haida Gwaii and there was so much detailed description of the food on offer in Gabri and Olivier’s bistro, that it made my mouth water!!
I am reading the Inspector Gamache series in order. This instalment is about a hermit who is found dead in Olivier’s bistro. But because I had stepped out of my reading order to read the sixth instalment for a book club assignment, I actually knew who the murderer was while reading the book, which was fun. And perhaps it was merciful too. This book ends on a cliffhanger for fans of Three Pines, and happily I didn’t have to go through that. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting to read them out of order, I just think that you should follow #5 with #6 as quickly as you can, because they really go together. Oh, and by the way, this title holds a clue to who the killer is, especially if you google ‘brutal telling and Emily Carr’ or pay attention when the character of Clara Morrow describes the phrase, or watch this youtube of Penny herself. 🙂
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