A Trick of the Light

I love this series but I am tiring of how many times she has to mention Myrna's fatness, or how much the poor makes her uncomfortable. It's not really compassionate or meaningful to the story either.

Joining Armand and Jean-Guy in solving another murder in Three Pines... For such a beautiful quaint place... there are a surprising amount of murders.

I found this another enjoyable read in the Armand Gamache series. I think Penny just gets better with each installment.

So enjoyable. She's created something special with this series. Satisfying and comforting fare.

4.5 stars.

Short Review: The series returns back to Three Pines when at an after party for Clara's new solo show, a woman is murdered. The body is not found until the next morning (in Peter and Clara's garden). The body is eventually found to be an estranged friend of Clara's, a former hated art critic and an all around unpleasant person. But she was a recovering alcoholic, which introduces a number of elements about the possibility of change. Beauvoir (Gamache's second in command) continues to deal with issues raised in the last book and not fully solved here (or in the next book).

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/a-trick-of-the-light-chief-inspector-gamache-7-by-louis-penny/

It would seem that this book has been a long time coming. So many things that have been bubbling along for a few books finally come to surface in a book that is less about the murder and more about the people and relationships in Three Pines.

Clara finally gets what she has dreamed of for her entire life, but getting what you wish for is sometimes the worst thing that can happen to you. At the same time the villagers are still healing from the events of The Brutal Telling. Olivier is learning to live with what he did and what he didn't do and everyone except for Gabri seem wary. Jean Guy is struggling with his medication addiction and Armand is trying to figure out how to help him, how much to tell him and how to protect him.

The mystery is more what will happen to the people we have grown to love (or hate) and less about who killed the woman from the past of someone unexpected. Though she is not forgotten and her murder investigation brings out another series of unforgettable characters.

I think that's what I love about these books so much. It's not just about one case. There are all of these little stories that Penny has cultivated since the first book. It turns a simple mystery into a complex story about humankind and the depth of emotion in everyone involved in murder.