Goodreads Summary:
As the early morning mist clears on Thanksgiving Sunday, the homes of Three Pines come to life - all except one…
To locals, the village is a safe haven. So they are bewildered when a well-loved member of the community is found lying dead in the maple woods. Surely it was an accident - a hunter's arrow gone astray. Who could want Jane Neal dead?
In a long and distinguished career with the Sûreté du Quebec, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has learned to look for snakes in Eden. Gamache knows something dark is lurking behind the white picket fences, and if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will begin to give up its secrets….
My Thoughts:
My best good friend (see what I did there? no? sad.) recommended this series to me. It is one of her favorites so I gave it a shot. Thankfully, the library (support your local library!!!) had a copy of the first book. I found some of the later books in the series for super cheap on Amazon but I dislike starting a series somewhere in the middle even if they are somewhat stand alone. I want to be introduced to the main characters the way the author intended.
I should preface this review with the fact that I don't tend to love who done it books. I am easily irritated with mystery books as they tend to be overly predictable, so I avoid them. This book wasn't overly predictable but I would say I figured out who the killer was within the first quarter of the book.
I liked the quirky characters of the small village of Three Pines. They aren't your typical small town folk and I liked that I was never reminded of Deliverance.
Yes, that is my judgy side coming out. I have a strong dislike for small-town folk and living. I am definitely a homebody but I like having the option to change that on a whim. That being said none of the characters in this book made my skin crawl. In fact, I found that I quite liked a few of them. I can relate to an old grumpy poet who doesn't like to talk about her work (Ruth). I can also relate to an artist who doesn't enjoy showing her work for fear it won't be understood (Jane, the murder victim).
Louise Penny has a distinctive voice and I liked her writing style quite a bit. I chuckled more than a few times thinking that a character was thinking like me or talking as one of my friends would.
Here's what I have to say about Inspector Armand Gamache...Huh. Interesting. I can't say that I am in love with this guy. But I also can't say that I hate him. I feel like his character was slowly shown to us, but we still don't really know much about him. We do know that he tries to help those working for and with him to become better at what they do, but I am not sure he is the best teacher. A young detective is working for him for the first time for this murder and the inspector flips flops between wanting to help her and actively putting her down and telling her to take a walk. I guess the natural teacher in my soul was a bit miffed about the way that subplot developed though I don't hold it against Gamache on a whole.
I have started the second book in the series. I am not sure that I will get through all 9 million books in this series. For now, I am enjoying an easy read with some character to it. I would recommend this book to mystery readers and to readers who like a little flair to the voice of an author.
While writing this review I was listening to the Dixie Chicks Everybody Knows.
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