A World of Curiosities: A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES CALLED THREE PINES

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It frothed up the already tumultuous lake, creating waves on the waves. Shoving the dead woman ever forward, offering her to Gamache. Insisting he take her. As ever, my real interest in this novel is what lies beyond the plot and the characterisation. Louise Penny frequently introduces a key theme into her narrative to explore the darker side of human nature or to shine a light on a contemporary issue. In the past we’ve had jealousy, euthanasia, police corruption, prescription drug addiction and PTSD. He didn’t have to guess her age, he actually knew exactly how old she was. Thirty-six. And he knew her name, though they hadn’t yet searched her body for ID, and no formal identification had been made.

I enjoyed the novel, my major criticism being too much talk about evil people 'getting into' Gamache's head and doing damage, which seemed like psychobabble. Still, this is a good book, recommended to fans of the series. The Paston Treasure is one of the most enigmatic paintings in Western art. A new book and exhibition, now on view at the painting’s home in the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, in Norfolk, UK (June 23–September 23, 2018), tell the story of the family of collectors who commissioned the work—which is still unattributed and largely shrouded in mystery—and delves into their obsession for beautiful objects.Blond hair, like string, was plastered across her face. A strand touched her open eyes. Gamache could not help but blink for her. Electrifying drama … the bodies pile up, the intensity and horror are reminiscent of Thomas Harris at his finest. Gamache is a fascinatingly complex protagonist’ BOOK OF THE MONTH, THE TIMES The importance of The Paston Treasure lies in the international scope and interest of the objects portrayed, reflecting both nature and the skills of humans. It was the subject of an exhibition in 2018 in which Norwich Castle Museum in partnership with the Yale Center for British Art in the USA, reunited, for the first time in 350 years, as many as possible of the objects depicted in the painting. [6] [7] I’m not alone in loving Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache books. I’ve loved all but one (and that one I liked), so the bar was understandably high here. The thing is that this book didn’t just meet the bar. It blew the bar out of the water. This series is pretty consistent in terms of the quality of the writing and inventiveness of the plots. Not that they are all equally good, but it is surprising how often they completely capture my attention, and this one was no exception.

I’d rate most of them in the 3-4 star range: they’re engrossing but flawed. The series’ hero worship of Gamache is always too cloying, and it starts out strong in this novel with the narrator reminding us how good, kind, and honest Gamache is. Although he’s been exposed, as the head of homicide, to the worst of humanity, the novel tells us that Gamache remains hopeful, compassionate, and relatively emotionally healthy. I should add that he remains all this even when the series has taken some of the people closest to Gamache and turned them into murderers. For me, that’s a cheap and unrealistic plot device that the series overrelies on.

Reading Group Guide

There is so much I love about Louise Penny's mystery series. There is usually Art woven into the story in one form or another. There are great complicated characters and there is always Gamache, a brave man in a brave country. You might think one would get tired of it but Penny pulls it off once again. This book was not a heavy mystery but was too dark to call it a cosy. As in most Penny's it is more about relationships and good vs evil, where good wins out against great odds. Robert Bathurst performs this 18th Inspector Gamache mystery with the assurance of one who knows the village of Three Pines and its (mostly) gentle residents well....fans are in for a treat." - AudioFile Magazine (Earphones Award Winner)