A Fatal Grace: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel: 2

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On Christmas Eve St Thomas’s was also filled with families, children excited and exhausted, elderly men and women who’d come to this place all their lives and sat in the same pew and worshipped the same God and baptized and married and buried those they loved. Some they never got to bury, but instead immortalized in the small stained glass window placed to get the morning, the youngest, light. They marched now in warm yellows and blues and greens, for ever perfect and petrified in the Great War. Etched below the brilliant boys were their names and the words ‘They Were Our Children’.” This is #2 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series and I’m loving these characters! It’s been quite a while since I read #1, but I’m looking forward to reading this series with book friends! In this case, a particularly unpleasant woman is murdered in a very complicated and public way while attending a curling match. Sitting at the front of the crowd, the victim stands up, touches the chair in front of her and is promptly electrocuted. On one particularly cold day, a snowstorm was forecast to hit Three Pines. Em left a letter for Gamache telling him that she, Kaye, and Bea had killed CC. They planned to go to the curling rink (where the murder had taken place) and commit suicide by staying outside until they froze. Gamache wanted to respect their wishes but realized at the last moment that they could not have killed CC because they did not understand the role of the metal studded shoes she was wearing in her electrocution. Gamache tried to save the women, but it was too late for Em, who had already died of hypothermia. Gamache then went to the home where CC’s daughter and husband lived. Crie was taken into custody for her mother’s murder. Gamache was the best of them, the smartest and bravest and strongest because he was willing to go into his own head alone, and open all the doors there, and enter all the dark rooms. And make friends with what he found there. And he went into the dark, hidden rooms in the minds of others. The minds of killers. And he faced down whatever monsters came at him."

He'd already become cruel in her company. And he'd begun despising himself. But not quite as much as he despised her. There is a point near the end of the novel where Gamache sits down to speak with Émilie Longpré, one of the three town matriarchs. It’s not surprising that they talked of life and death, considering Gamach is investigating a murder and considering the way-up-there age of Madame Longpré. A traditional and highly intelligent mystery....sure to create great reader demand for more stories featuring civilized and articulate Chief Inspector Gamache.... Highly recommended. ” — Library Journal (starred review) Chief Inspector Armand Gamach of the Sûreté du Québec received the call while with his wife – he was immediately headed to Three Pines where he’d investigated a murder the previous year. There had been another murder.What's this?' He reached into the garbage and withdrew a portfolio. He recognized it immediately as an artist's dossier of work. It was beautifully and painstakingly bound and printed on archival Arche paper. He flipped it open and caught his breath. A series of works, luminous and light, seemed to glow off the fine paper. He felt a stirring in his chest. They showed a world both lovely and hurt. But mostly, it was a world where hope and comfort still existed. It was clearly the world the artist saw each day, the world the artist lived in. As he himself once lived in a world of light and hope. No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death. The Chief Inspector is on the job and sets about to solve the mysterious crime. Along the way we are reunited with characters from book #1. There’s also a subplot involving some of Gamache’s actions in the first book. In fact, the author leaves us with quite a cliffhanger at the end of this one. I was also interested in the continuing story of Gamache’s stalled career. I feel that the surface has been barely scratched in this sub-plot and I’m so curious as to how it will play out. Regardless of her age, somebody needs to teach Louise Penny those terms are not okay. If she were to use the n-word, her editor would surely correct her. It’s time her editor corrects her on this. I really wanted to read these books, but it goes against my principles to financially support an apparent bigot.

Louise Penny's A Fatal Grace is one of the best mysteries I've read this year.” — Lesa's Book Critiques Gamache, a smart and likable investigator--think Columbo with an accent, or perhaps a modern-day Poirot--systematically wades his way through the pool, coming upon a few surprises along the way....This is a fine mystery in the classic Agatha Christie style, and it is sure to leave mainstream fans wanting more.” — Booklist The second in the mystery series by Louise Penny set in the small Québécois town of Three Pines, featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force for Quebec:Gamache was the best of them, the smartest and bravest and strongest because he was willing to go into his own head alone, and open all the doors there, and enter all the dark rooms. And make friends with what he found there.” I am not sure this is a particularly coherent review, but here's a try about my problems with the book: Although there were the trademark astute one-liners such as: It was almost impossible to electrocute someone these days, unless you were the governor of Texas, it was hard to feel sympathetic to some characters because I had read ahead. Not this book's fault, I know. Now here’s a good one: Starred Review. A traditional and highly intelligent mystery …. sure to create great reader demand for more stories featuring civilized and articulate Chief Inspector Gamache…. Highly recommended." - Library Journal I was going to give two stars for that, but then I remembered the fat-shaming. A 12-year old overweight girl is described on multiple occasion in the most jarring, mean-spirited way - not by other characters, but the author. Just awful.

It’s a lot like one of those Florida senior villages, where the staff always tries to shut out all the nasty shadows of life. I’m not going to discuss the plot, other than to say that the unpleasant woman who was murdered was mourned by nobody, and her impending doom is mentioned in the first sentence. There are a few scary moments, but this is not a thriller. It is a just a good story told in good company. Reading this during a steamy Australian summer is an interesting experience. Here it’s the kind of weather when you find yourself stripped down to barely acceptable clothing and opening the fridge or freezer a little more often than necessary. There, in the Canadian winter, you have to pile on the layers to try to retain what body heat there is, becoming barely acceptable in another ‘fashion’. Kudos, Madam Penny, for intriguing me greatly. I am eager to see what else you have in store for this series.At a vigil at the University of Nottingham this evening, Barnaby and Grace's families were joined by thousands mourning the loss of "two much-loved students" Saul looked at it, not for the first time. She'd dragged it out of her huge purse every five minutes for the past few days. In busi¬¨ness meetings, dinners, taxi rides through the snowy streets of Montreal, CC'd suddenly bend down and emerge triumphant, holding her creation as though another virgin birth. It took a long time for Gamache to make his entrance in this book but I'm getting to know the folks of Three Pines so I enjoy spending time with them, too. I didn't enjoy CC de Poitiers but no one likes CC. She lives in a fake world of delusions of grandeur and any time she can bring someone down, for even the most trivial or no reason, she's going to do it. And now, she has her sights on Three Pines. She plans to make that place hers, and in her mind, she plans to raze all that makes the place amazing.

Not one to be dissuaded by a murder nobody wants solved, Gamache rolls up his sleeves and starts to dig beneath the surface of the village and into the closets and twisted corners of the residents’ lives. Soon, it becomes clear there are some very real dangers lurking around in Three Pines, and something is coming for Chief Inspector Gamache himself. Just because it’s the truth doesn’t make it less insulting. ― Louise Penny, A Fatal Grace The Perfect Murder in A Fatal Grace The cast of A Fatal Grace is a marvelous mystery….the plotting is intricate, the pacing perfect, the writing brilliant….Ms. Penny leaves a bit of a cliffhanger for readers to ponder until the next installment. It can't come soon enough for me.” — Cozy Library blog Something I think is very interesting is that Gamache did something in the past that ended any upward movement of his career. He accepts it and is a very happy guy anyway, either because of or in spite of continuous inner reflection. There is trouble brewing in the future and he knows it. People are scheming to take him down even further than a stalled career. I want to know more and I want to know what Gamache plans to do about it. But at his core he believed the world a lovely place. And his photographs reflected that, catching the light, the brilliance, the hope. And the shadows that naturally challenged the light.

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A gem of a book....a beautifully told, lyrically written story of love, life, friendship, and tragedy.” — Booklist (starred review) on Still Life In this same conversation, Madame Longpré says this: “I only became really happy after my family was killed.” A cerebral, satisfying novel….it transcends genre, giving a thoughtful look at the human soul and the divine presence…. A Fatal Grace has a grace all it's own.” — I Love a Mystery blog Oh, there indeed is rest here, though - a bit, and some stupor too. But there is no clear-eyed judgement on the part of the residents. There's nothing wrong with magical realism, but I felt like Three Pines and its residents had enough every day magic without resorting to the truly far out there. I'd be curious as to what other readers thought of that moment — I won't say any more because I don't want to spoil it. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there.