The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

I want to rush right out and buy this for my my friends, a couple--one a musician and the other a poet.  It inspired and moved me.  Louise Penny has quickly become one of my favorite authors.  In fact, I keep telling folks that my first retirement trip is going to include a literary tour of Quebec following the Inspector Gamache books.  I just hope I can find Three Pines (or something like it!).

Finally Three Pines is spared a murder!  This mystery takes place at monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups.  A monastery hidden from view for centuries and recently come to public attention through the making of a CD of Gregorian Chants.  But, success breeds dissent and hence Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir go together to investigate the murder of one of the monks.

The secondary plots of the series are nicely developed as well.

Take a day or two to savor this one (and maybe put some Gregorian Chants on as you read)!

Chief Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny

Everyone once and a while I run across a new-to-me author who has a substantial body of work.  That means I start at the beginning and read!  (And why I can be quiet for so long on this blog.)  I picked up Louise Penny's books because of coverage on NPR.  I'm delighted I did.

Penny's detective novels are richly written.  In each she brings in themes connecting to art, history, literature, and nature.  The solutions to the mysteries typically are nuanced and subtle portraits of communities, families, and minor psychological problems.  She does not typically include "mass-murderer" psychopaths as the antagonist.  Instead, they are the flawed human beings we run across in our lives who have just gone a step further than do most.

Gamache himself is a fascinating character.  He is physically imposing, loving toward his wife and family, but with some weaknesses and flaws that make him believable and admirable.  The approaches he uses to solving the murders are patient, methodical, and thoughtful.  Penny also uses a device in which the characters discover something, but she does not reveal the discovery until later in the book.

I have not visited Quebec, the settings of her novels, but will as soon as life permits.  In fact, I believe my first retirement trip will be to Quebec with books in hand.  Of course I will plan the trip for fall so that I may continue southward through the fall colors in New England and to Boston to visit Reverend, Doctor Nancy Taylor at Boston's Old South Church.

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

I picked this up because of a review I heard on NPR. A Fatal Grace is second in a series about Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of the Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec.  The series is technically "detective fiction" or a "murder mystery" but the writing itself is literary.  I will be reading other titles in this series and hope to continue to be delighted with the artful weaving of the arts with mystery/detective work.  

A Fatal Grace is set in a lovely village in the Canadian province of Quebec.  The cast of characters include a poet, two artists, and several other interesting folk.  The poetry included in the book is lovely and inspired me to return a volume of poetry to my "to read" stack.  Inspector Gamache is a particularly compelling main character.  He is intelligent, sensitive, and wise about people.  Unlike many other detectives he appears not be to plagued by major personality quirks or haunted by demons from his past. 

If I'm reading her home page correctly I have quite a bit of reading to do.  I appears there are 11 titles in this series to date. 

http://www.louisepenny.com/