Bury Your Dead

by Louise Penny

I read this weeks ago but haven't had time to write my thoughts about it until now and, only now, because I have the flu.   I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC from Penny's editor, Hope Dellon which meant I was able to read this before it is released in the U.S. on Sep 28.  The offset is that I have to wait even longer for the next installment.

This is #6 in the Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries series.  Like the other five I was able to dissolve into the story and feel like I was home even though I was far away in Old Town Quebec in the middle of winter.  That doesn't sound very much like home or even very cozy, but some how Louise Penny's writing pulls you in and wraps it's arms around you and you feel like you are right where you should be - right in front of that roaring fire, tucked into an overstuffed chair, covered by a lap quilt with your hands on a warm mug of hot cocoa. 

Expect to get caught up in three different mysteries at once.  Penny deftly winds and weaves three different mysteries into one with the common thread or theme of mistakes running through all three. Even though the main story is set in Quebec City the familiars from Three Pines are not left out.  One of the storylines takes Belvoir back to that quaint village where he has to deal with the inhabitants firsthand, without Gamache to shield him.  Be prepared for a few surprises.

Before I was able to read my copy I shared it with my mother and husband who are both in love with Penny's gift for writing and telling remarkable tales.  You can read Candleman's review of Bury Your Dead HERE.  After my turn the book has made it's way to my daughter and then to my sister.  We are all big fans.

The Brutal Telling

by Louise Penny

I wish I could describe my thoughts and feelings about Louise Penny's books.  Everything I come up with sounds so superlative - over the top and unbelievable, but that is really how I feel.  Those of you who have read them know what I'm talking about and those who haven't read them are greatly missing out.

Penny's  writing transports us to the village of Three Pines just south of Montreal and to the wonderful, kooky, flawed, generous characters who live there.  I feel like I could almost dissolve into the book and be there myself, surrounded by good friends.  Of course, I'd be hoping for a murder so Inspector Gamache would have to join the group. 

"He smiled and not for the first time she thought the rarest thing she'd ever found was Chief Inspector Gamache."

The Brutal Telling is the 5th in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.  It's a series that starts out strong and just gets better with each book.   In this one a murdered body is found in Olivier's bistro - a body that no one in the village can identify!  Gamache and his team are called to to strip back layers of lies and catch an unlikely killer.

There are many facets of meaning to every one of Penny's books.  The plot itself is immensely spellbinding as is Penny's ability to grasp the intricacies of human nature.  I love the way she will use a motif several times throughout her books and apply it to different circumstances or turn it in a new light to add greater meaning and depth.  I've often thought that if these books were not mysteries she would have a greater audience and be among the best selling fiction authors.  Many who shrug off mysteries as unfit literary fare would be surprised and pleased with the graceful, eloquent writing.

I'm anxiously looking forward to the next in the series which will be out the end of Sep.  I may have to fight my husband for it because he loves the books as much as I do.  And then there's my mother - but I think we can grab and run with it faster than she can!

A few of my favorite passages.  I like to reread the passages I've book darted and when I do the story comes back to life for me.  I'm only going to add two of the many that I marked.  You are welcome to read these, if you'd like, but I include them mostly for my benefit.

What a tale those eyes told Gamache.  In them he saw the infant, the boy, the young man, afraid.  Never certain what he would find in his father.  Would he be loving and kind and warm today?  Or would he sizzle the skin off his son?  With a look, a word.  Leaving the boy naked and ashamed.  Knowing himself to be weak and needy, stupid and selfish.  So that the boy grew an outer hull to withstand the assault.  But while those skins saved tender young souls, Gamache knew, they soon stopped protecting and became the problem.  Because while the hard outer shell kept the hurt at bay, it also kept out the light.  And inside the frightened little soul became something else entirely, nurtured only in darkness.

He was like Pinocchio.  A man made of wood, mimicking humanity.  Shiny and smiling and fake.  And if you cut into him you'd see rings.  Circles of deceit and scheming and justification.

A Rule Against Murder

by Louise Penny

I just can't give enough praise for the Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series and for Louise Penny's writing.  I love them.  While reading this series I feel like I gently slip deeper and more comfortably into the coziest of overstuffed chairs.  It's a feeling that I cherish and am most grateful for.

This, the fourth in the series, is set in an old, log lodge set on a beautiful lake, surrounded with beautiful forest and just a short drive from the village of Three Pines.  Gamache and his wife are celebrating their anniversary with a week stay at the lodge.  At the same time there is a family reunion taking place.  Of course, a murder takes place and Gamache is the one who looks into the past to discover who has been harboring a wound that has grown into the act of murder.

 Penny keeps me totally wrapped up in the story, the mystery of who the murderer was and why and how it was committed.  But she also thrills me with her turn of a phrase and the way she uses words to paint a a feeling, an atmosphere, a lesson, a character, etc.

I liked this description of the lodge:
That was the other ingredient of the Manoir.  It was filled with suspects, it was filled with Morrows, huffling and silent.  But more than that, it was filled with relief.  It was like a sigh, with structure.

In the story the father had left each of his children a short note with advise on it. 
You can't get milk from a hardware store.  It was a funny sort of thing for a father to tell a daughter.  But by then she'd broken the code, and knew what her father had been trying tell her.  Stop asking for something that can't be given.  And look for what is offered.

Advice given by Gamache to his friend and also, a suspect:
Be careful.  You're making hurting a habit.  Spreading it around won't lessen your pain, you know.  Just the opposite.

I feel most blessed that Louise Penny has such a marvelous talent and that she decided to share that talent with me.  I'm not a writer, have no desire to be but I'm grateful for those who are.  Penny is one of my absolute favorites.

A Fatal Grace/ Dead Cold

by Louise Penny

Louise Penny is one of my favorite authors and I absolutely love her Inspector Gamache series.  I listened to this book with Candleman on a trip to southern Utah in Nov.  It was not his choice but he ended up loving it.

This is book 2 in the series.  I'm sure it is advisable to read this series in order especially to follow the continuing story of Gmache's enemies in the force.  Unfortunately, I've been reading them out of order and don't feel like it's detracted from the storyline too much.

I love coming back to this fictitious village just south of Montreal and reconnecting with the people.  They are real, flawed and multi-dimensional - just the type I would love to have for neighbors.  Most of them, anyway.  The setting makes me long to visit that area again.  It reminds me a a beautiful little town called Knowlton we visited that is real and is located just south of Montreal.  Absolutely picturesque and filled with charm.  That's how I think of Three Pines.

The mystery is complex and was hard for me to solve.  One of the things I like best about Penny's books is the wisdom sprinkled throughout.  I am going to need to reread this one so I can book dart those many passages I loved while listening to it.

If you haven't picked up one of these books in the Armand Gamache series, I highly recommend you do.  Start with Still Life.

A Fatal Grace is the title used in the U.S.  Elsewhere it goes by Dead Cold.  Why they can't use the same title is beyond me...

The Cruelest Month

by Louise Penny

I've read some really good books this year but this is the only one I wanted to read straight through the night. I usually don't have a problem putting a book down when I'm ready for bed reassuring myself that it will be there for me tomorrow and that I will have longer to savor it. That rational usually works, but not this time. I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen to Inspector Gamache.

There are three story lines in this book. The first is the mystery itself - Who killed the victim? Why? How? The second is who is trying to bring down the Inspector and why? The reader finds out the who and the why fairly early on but not how it would end. The third was a small subplot concerning a married couple, both artists, both people I've like in previous books but one is trying to undermine the other.

The Cruelest Month is the third in the Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series. The setting is a picturesque, small community south of Montreal. The characters are quirky, human and very likable. Even Ruth, the angry poet.

I really like Inspector Gamache. He likes to read, he loves his wife and two grown children, he's kind and he's good at his job. I love this description of him (it's also a good description of Clara):
"She often felt foolish, ill constructed, next to others. Beside Gamache she only ever felt whole." That's how I think I would feel next to him. Obviously, not everyone feels that way or someone wouldn't be plotting to ruin his career.

I suppose this series would fit into the cozy mystery genre but there is so much more depth and meaning to be thrown in with some of the lightweights of this genre.

What I did not like: There's only one thing - the use of the F word. Way too much. It was like Penny had just learned that word and wanted to use it a lot or maybe her publisher said her books would sell better if she sprinkled them liberally with foul language. Actually, no other foul language except that one word. I know not everyone cares about the language and I can usually skip over some, but this was too much. I hope it doesn't continue into the next books. I was recommending this series to my husband and mention this problem to him. His response - "That cinches it. I won't be reading it. There are too many really good books to have to put up with stuff like that." Darn, I really wanted to discuss this series with him.

Will I be reading the next two? Yes. Definitely!

Still Life

by Louise Penny

Many of you have read this book over the years. It was your enthusiastic reviews that encouraged me to pick this up. I loved it!

Still Life is the 1st of four in the Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series. This one is set in a village south of Montreal. I don't know if any of the others will continue with this same group of people or if Gamache will be tracking down the killer in another area. I can see that he may have to move to a different area if that's were the murder occurs, but I would love to come back to the same people in this book.

Penny does such a wonderful job of fleshing out the characters and making them real-life people. I felt like I wanted to move into the neighborhood and get together with those characters as they celebrate life. I wish I could have seen inside Jane's house. Don't you? (those of you that have read this) And didn't you really like Inspector Gamache? I wish I knew how to pronounce his name.

Last summer we visited Montreal and a cute little village southeast of Montreal named Knowlton. It was such a beautiful area and I pictured the little village in the book looking something like it. And there were some mention of 'Canadian' icons that I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't visited. I don't know how many Canadian Tires we passed on our trip before we learned it was an eating establishment and not a car hardware store. And when Ruth stood up at the funeral and started singing, "What do you do with a drunken sailor" I really enjoyed a good laugh. We listened to that and many other shantys as we drove for weeks through Canada. This book helped to rekindle those good memories I have of my visit to Canada.

I thought the mystery was a good tale and I didn't figure it out until it was obvious who the murderer was. In addition, the writing was superb. I used quite a few book darts to mark passages that I really liked. This passage about a mother of a troubled teenage boy brought me to tears:

"She'd tried praying, but had forgotten the words. Instead she kept repeating the only thing she could remember: Little Boy blue, come blow your horn, the sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn. She's recited it over and over to Philippe when he was little but now she couldn't remember the rest. It seemed to matter, even though it wasn't itself a prayer. it was more than that. It was proof she'd been a good mother. Proof she'd loved her children. Proof, whispered the little girl's voice inside her head, that it isn't your fault. But she couldn't remember the rest of the nursery rhyme. So maybe it was her fault."

This passage reminded me of the feelings I had when my father died:

"All Quiet of the western front, thought Gamache, listening to this gentle life. His magical thinking allowed him to be surprised that when such a good soul dies it isn't remarked. The bells of the church didn't set themselves off. The mice and deer didn't cry out. The earth didn't shudder. It should have."

I thought I had book 2 sitting on my shelf, but since I couldn't find it and didn't have it entered in Library Thing* I got online and ordered it. It's so fun to have it to look forward to.

*neither of these things guarantees it's not somewhere in my house since it's hit and miss with me.