Category Archives: 5

March 31, 2025 · 2:56 pm

Bury Your Dead – Louise Penny

Bury Your Dead – Louise Penny

Another Chief Inspector Gamache book! I love these novels.

Here’s the blurb …

It is Winter Carnival in Quebec City, bitterly cold and surpassingly beautiful. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has come not to join the revels but to recover from an investigation gone hauntingly wrong. But violent death is inescapable, even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society – where an obsessive historian’s quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly 400 years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it?

Although he is supposed to be on leave, Gamache cannot walk away from a crime that threatens to ignite long-smoldering tensions between the English and the French. Meanwhile, he is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. “It doesn’t make sense,” Olivier’s partner writes every day. “He didn’t do it, you know.” As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive the terrible event of his own past before he can bury his dead.

For this one Gamache and Beauvois, both recovering from terrible injuries, separate and solve different murders. Beauvois in Three Pines looking into the Hermit’s murder (A Brutal Telling), and Gamache gets swept up into an investigation in Quebec City. Once again, the descriptions are magnificent – I want to go to Quebec City now.

The structure of this one was interesting as well. We know something terrible has happened, Gamache and Beauvois are both on leave, but the story is unfolded gradually told from their different perspectives.

A review

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March 27, 2025 · 12:46 pm

The Brutal Telling – Louise Penny

The Brutal Telling – Louise Penny

Another Chief Inspector Gamache novel – and I have started the next one! I really enjoy listening to these novels.

Here’s the blurb …

Chaos is coming, old son.

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness.

No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him?

As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures— from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word “WOE” woven in it—lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.

Once again, it’s a complicated murder with lots of twists and turns and suspects. But the best thing about these novels is the characters and the insight into their thoughts and motives.

The setting is always fabulous, and the descriptions of the food is mouth-watering.

I also enjoy the parts of the plot that involve the ‘extra’ characters. This one focused a bit on Clara and her solo show (not to mention Peter’s jealousy of her talent and now her opportunities).

A review.

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March 26, 2025 · 12:14 pm

The Idea of Perfection – Kate Grenville

The Idea of Perfection – Kate Grenville

This is the first novel I have read by Kate Grenville. I know of her, of course, she is a famous Australian author (which I think has put me off reading her, but the cover convinced me).

Here’s the blurb …

Harley Savage is a plain woman, a part-time museum curator and quilting expert with three failed marriages and a heart condition. Douglas Cheeseman is a shy, gawky engineer with jug-handle ears, one marriage gone sour, and a crippling lack of physical courage. They meet in the little Australian town of Karakarook, where Harley has arrived to help the town build a heritage museum and Douglas to demolish the quaint old Bent Bridge. From the beginning they are on a collision course until the unexpected sets them both free.

Elegantly and compassionately told, The Idea of Perfection is reminiscent of the work of Carol Shields and Annie Proulx and reveals Kate Grenville as “a writer of extraordinary talent” (The New York Times Book Review).

This was great, Harley and Douglas are fabulous characters – very believable. And I particularly liked Felicity Porcelline (and her fixation on winkles), and Freddy who sees himself as the lothario of Karakarook. This is a character driven novel (the best sort) and all of the characters have a lot of baggage. So it’s about happiness, trust and community.

The writing is beautiful and I agree with the above blurb – it is reminiscent of Carol Shields, and I would add Anne Tyler, however, the setting is very small town Australia (beautifully described – I could feel the heat, see the main street, and the local hotel).

This was published in 1999, but it is still very readable.

A review

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March 15, 2025 · 3:34 pm

A Rule Against Murder – Louise Penny

A Rule Against Murder – Louise Penny

I have become a fan of Louise Penny’s Gamache novels. This is the fifth one I have read (for some reason I listened to number 12 first). I do like Armand and all of the recurring characters (maybe not Peter).

Here’s the blurb …

“What happened here last night isn’t allowed,” said Madame Dubois.
It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.
“You have a rule against murder?” he asked.
“I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact….Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe.”

It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they’re not alone. The Finney family—rich, cultured, and respectable—has also arrived for a celebration of their own.
The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax.

These novels are beautifully written with a visceral sense of place. The crimes (murders) are the skeleton of the plot, but it’s fleshed out by more character-driven themes; family relationships, selfishness, kindness, etc. And the murders are ingenious.

A review.

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March 7, 2025 · 1:34 pm

A Thousand Mornings – Mary Oliver

A Thousand Mornings – Mary Oliver

I don’t tend to read poetry, but I would like to change that. Having heard of Mary Oliver, I thought this might be a good place to start.

Here’s the blurb …

In A Thousand Mornings, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has come to define her life’s work, transporting us to the marshland and coastline of her beloved home, Provincetown, Massachusetts. In these pages, Oliver shares the wonder of dawn, the grace of animals, and the transformative power of attention. Whether studying the leaves of a tree or mourning her adored dog, Percy, she is ever patient in her observations and open to the teachings contained in the smallest of moments.

Our most precious chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver opens our eyes to the nature within, to its wild and its quiet. With startling clarity, humor, and kindness, A Thousand Mornings explores the mysteries of our daily experience.

I set myself the goal of reading one poem per day, but I found myself reading more. These are beautiful atmospheric and evocative.

From Hurricane

It was the wrong season, yes,
but they couldn’t stop. They
looked like telephone poles and didn’t
care. And after the leaves came
blossoms. For some things
there are no wrong seasons.
Which is what I dream of for me.

From In our woods, sometimes a rare music

Not enough is a poor life.
But too much is, well, too much.
Imagine Verdi or Mahler
every day, all day.
It would exhaust anyone.

And one for the current times, The Morning Paper

Read one newspaper daily (the morning edition
is the best
for by evening you know that you at least
have lived through another day)
and let the disasters, the unbelievable
yet approved decisions,
sock in.

I don’t need to name the countries,
ours among them.

What keeps us from falling down, our faces
to the ground; ashamed, ashamed?

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March 4, 2025 · 11:57 am

Misdirected – Lucy Parker

Misdriected – Lucy Parker

I saw this mentioned somewhere (sorry I can’t remember where – I need to take better notes), and as I usually like the audible originals and I have read Codename Charlie, I was keen to give this a go.

Here’s the blurb …

Hattie Murton never dreamed of TV stardom. A straight-from-a-fairytale encounter with a casting agent somehow landed her a part on what she’d thought would be a one-off pilot for Leicester Square, a bodice-ripping drama adapted from a bestselling romance novel. Buoyed by a surge in demand for romantic dramas, the show instead propelled its core cast to household-name status within a month.

Hattie tries to look on the positive side of all situations, but four seasons of brutal press, overly invested fans, and a cutthroat industry that’s never quite felt like the right fit would give even Pollyanna an edge of cynicism. And high on the ‘con’ list when it comes to her current and unintended career is having to share a set and some horrendously early starts with Anthony Rafe. Leicester Square villain. A-lister. Absolute prat.

In the new season’s scripts, it appears that her previously sane, rational character is about to lose her mind and begin an unexpected and unsettlingly graphic affair with the series villain. Forced into close—very close and very…intimate—proximity with the man everyone loves to hate, Hattie’s horror is matched only by Anthony’s drawling disdain. But when very real chemistry sparks during their scripted love scenes, Hattie begins to think the industry’s legendarily heartless Bad Guy might just have a pulse after all. And Anthony, for his part, is caught off-guard by the way his heart races when he’s around his aggravating onscreen lover.

As reality starts to imitate art a little too close for comfort, the world’s most unlikely couple might just have more in common than they thought…

I really enjoyed this, it’s fun, witty, and the characters are lovely. And who doesn’t like someone whose dream is to open a book store in a lovely country town? And the narration by Nicola Coughlin and Gwilym Lee is fabulous. I liked the structure as well – from the point of view of the heroine and hero. I also like that there is nothing contrived getting in the way of the relationship. None of that ‘I am not good enough’ rubbish.

A review

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March 1, 2025 · 5:03 pm

The Cruelest Month – Louise Penny

The Cruellest Month – Louise Penny

I am enamoured with the Gamache novels! This is the fourth one I have listened to – for someone reason I started with number 12. I think there is 20 of them, so I will be working on them for a while. I listened to this one (this audible version)

Here’s the blurb …

Welcome to Three Pines, where the cruelest month is about to deliver on its threat.

It’s spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . .

When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil—until one of their party dies of fright. Was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along?

Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.

I do like the Three Pine’s locals’ stories progressing: Clara and the very jealous Peter (I wish we could see Clara’s paintings), Ruth and her ‘babies’, etc. Even Agent Niccol is improving. This was another interesting murder – very cunningly planned. We still have the machinations at the Sûreté headquarters and Armand Gamache is his usual charming, kind self.

A review

I am very much looking forward to listening/reading the next one (A Rule Against Murder). I am currently listening to Misdirected by Lucy Parker, which is fabulous (read by Nicola Coughlan and Gwilym Lee).

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February 18, 2025 · 3:29 pm

My favourite Mistake – Marian Keyes

My Favourite Mistake – Marian Keyes

According to Amazon, I bought this novel in April 2024. It then languished in my TBR and finally I decided to listen to it (Marian Keyes is the narrator!).

Here’s the blurb …

Anna has just lost her taste for the big apple . . .

Anna has a life to envy. An apartment in New York. A well-meaning (too well-meaning?) partner. And a high-flying job in beauty PR. Who wouldn’t want all that? Anna—it turns out.

Turning a minor mid-life crisis into a major life event she packs it in, heads back to Ireland, and gets a PR job for a super-high-end coastal retreat.

Tougher than it sounds. Newsflash: the locals hate it. So much so, there have been threats—and violence.

Anna, however, worked in the beauty industry. There’s no ugliness she hasn’t seen. No wrinkle she can’t smooth over. Anna’s got this.

Until she discovers that leaving New York doesn’t mean escaping her mistakes.

Once upon a time she’d had a best friend. Once upon a time she’d loved a man. Now she has neither. And now she has to face them.

We all make mistakes.
But when do we stop making the same one over and over again?

This was great! It was witty, kind and well-written. In particular, I liked all of the references to menopause and peri-menopause, not enough is said about them as if it is some how shameful to be aging. Maumtully was delightful with a cast of quirky secondary characters. It is about being alive and fallible, but trying to do better next time. It is also about knowing things will get better.

I am going to have to add ‘feathery stroker’ to my vocabulary.

A review

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February 13, 2025 · 8:01 pm

A Fatal Grace – Louise Penny

A Fatal Grace – Louise Penny

I read the twelfth novel in this series (A Great Reckoning) and was enthralled, so I have started reading the series. I listened to Still Life on holiday (so no blog), but I have just finished listening to A Fatal Grace.

Here’s the blurb …

Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.

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.

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he’s dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?

With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.

We’re back in Three Pines with the usual locals, and a new and very complicated murder. It’s winter and I love all of the wintery references (it’s Summer and hot here). Gamache and his wife are delightful as are the residents of Three Pines (apart from Ruth). Reading these novels (despite the murders) is like having a cosy holiday.

The novel is beautifully written, and the sense of place is extraordinary. I also like being in different characters heads – Yvette Nicole is quite something.

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January 15, 2025 · 2:55 pm

A Great Reckoning – Louise Penny

A Great Reckoning – Louise Penny

I came across this while searching my husband’s audible library – I haven’t read any of the previous novels (this is novel 12), so I have probably spoiled the earlier ones for myself. I liked it, I am planning on reading the first one while on a road trip.

Here’s the blurb …

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes.

Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must.

And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor.

The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets.

For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning.

Number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel.

I loved the setting, the characters and the plot. I loved the map and the Three Pines community. The emphasis on kindness and empathy, and not believing everything you think. It’s about second chances and that there is always a road back.

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