Summary: Stepping out of retirement, former Chief Inspector Gamache, has agreed to take over Surete (Quebec police) academy. A Great Reckoning is not a novel that you want to pickup if you are new to the series. You could read it and I think enjoy it. But there is a lot of assumed back story. Gamache … Read more
Summary: A retired Inspector Gamache continues to need to respond to the deaths around him in Three Pines. Popular murder mystery series always have the problem of very high rates of murder around the protagonist. It is one reason that they tend to be police officers of big cities in order to give some credibility … Read more
Summary: The threat running through most of this series comes to a head. The Inspector Gamache series is a traditional murder mystery series. Every book, Chief Homicide inspector Gamache and his team respond to a murder and attempt to solve it. But through most of the series there is a subplot about corruption within the … Read more
Summary: A previously hidden order of monks calls on Gamache when their Prior is murdered. Louise Penny has frequently hinted at religious issues in the previous books. But with Beautiful Mystery, set in a monastery, religious thoughts are on full display. Penny is playing with the recent popularity of Gregorian Chant. In her fictional world, … Read more
Summary: Clara is finally getting her art show, but someone is murdered at the party. Series fiction is a tricky thing. Veer too far from what made the stories popular and fans will complain. Stick with what made the series popular too closely and even the fans will get bored. So Louise Penny has been … Read more
Summary: How do you solve the murder of an unknown man? Chief Inspector Gamache is again back in Three Pines. That small little village that he loves, filled with people that he loves, once again has a dead body. This time the body is found in Olivier’s Bistro, but no one seems to know who he … Read more
Summary: Inspector Gamache and his wife go away to their favorite vacation spot for their 35th anniversary, murder follows them. This is my fourth Inspector Gamache book in as many weeks and the series seems to be getting better. Inspector Gamache and his wife traditionally go to a small quaint upscale wilderness inn for their … Read more
Summary: When a group from Three Pines decides to have a séance to purge the evil spirits of the Hadley house, one of the participants appears to die of fright. I know some people like to be scared by books or movies or TV shows, I am not one of those people. I have never … Read more
Summary: What comes around…? When a murder mystery series is based around a small town there has to be some questions about how/why murders will disproportionately happen in this particular town. A Fatal Grace is only the second book in a now ten book series, but Louise Penny has taken a wise path, it is … Read more
Summary: A town too small to show up on most maps has a woman shot dead by an arrow. After talking about my love of the Bruno Chief of Polic series, Sheila Brennan suggested I try the Inspector Gamache books. I was vaguely aware of the series (it had come up as an Amazon recommendation) … Read more