Kim

This is the 13th book in the Inspector Gamache novels. It is another excellent outing by Louise Penny. I love that the characters continue to evolve throughout the entire series. This book centers on the drug trade within Canada and between Canada and the US and focuses on the theme of conscience through the use of a cobrador del franc. The frame of the book is hung around Gamache's testimony in the court case of the defendant accused of killing a woman in the basement of the church in Three Pines. 

I enjoyed reading The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The protagonist is wise, independent and cares about the people who come to her for help. This story relays stories of her childhood, her early, headstrong adult days and continues to present day when she is 35, single and opening a detective agency. We hear of her first cases, many of which are quite funny, and also her first big case - finding a boy who has suddenly disappeared without a trace. 

The setting in Botswana is beautiful and the characters are endearing. 

The Crooked House is an excellent Agatha Christie murder mystery. The crooked house and the crooked family within it present as stereotypes but insist on defying expectations. 

I enjoyed this book 3 in Louise Penny's Canadian series centered around the small village of Three Pines and following Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec as he solves murders with his loyal team of officers. Ms. Penny's prose is beautiful and thoughtful and her cast of charming characters makes me wish I could live in Three Pines. In this title, Gamache must find a killer who used Ephedrine to kill a universally loved woman at a seance in a haunted mansion at Easter all while suffering from ghosts from his past which refuse to die. The new life/new hope imagery abound. There's also wonderful discussion of French Canadian life and what spiritualism and art mean to different people. The only drawbacks are that the police procedural portions lack some believability and the issue of body image could have been handled more sensitively. 

This novel is a bad showing by the amazing Agatha Christie. The half star is for the inclusion of beloved characters Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. Otherwise there is nothing about this book to recommend it. This book reads like she dictated it and it was transcribed with no editing. First of all - almost nothing happens in this book - it is all a series of interviews. The reader is merely told a story. Christie repeats the elephant theme and even some of the (weak) clues ad nauseam. The mother-in-law starting the mystery by cornering Ariadne at a literary luncheon makes no sense. Ariadne telling her goddaughter that she “forgot” about the fact that the goddaughter's parents met a very public, tragic and mysterious end is the height of rudeness and makes no sense. Also, you can see the lazy”twist” ending a mile away. I recommend you forget about this book.