A Fatal Grace

Louise Penny is overly impressed with herself. She takes her character “insights” and beats the reader over the head with them. She does not give her readers much credit, pointing out repeatedly when she does somesthing clever (e.g., pointing out repeatedly how incredible it was that two characters had to view the landscape from a hunter’s blind in order to see in this book’s predecessor).

Her narrative pacing is fantastic! Once the setup is done, the story sprints to the finish. Her world building is immaculate. You are in Three Pines, you are shopping in downtown Montreal. You sip drinks by the fire with the characters.

Her talents are tempered and almost completely mitigated by her cruel and inappropriate commentary on the overweight and her ignorant, stereotypical portrayals of homosexual characters. Her descriptions of gay characters are entirely stereotypical, they have no depth whatsoever. She refers to them as “fairies,” but her casual, wreckless, and frequent usage of the terms “f*g” and “f****t” are shocking. It’s jarring.

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.

About a year ago, someone recommended Louise Penny to me, so I read the first book, Still Life. Actually, had a little difficulty getting into it. Since it is based in the Quebec area, there are some French phrases and reference to the French/English issue of which I was not familiar. I gave up after less than 100 pages, but decided to try again and loved it. I am now systematically, going through the entire series. If you haven’t read them in order, its not difficult to get the gist of the character, but I would recommend starting with #1. The characters are incredibly interesting and carry
through each book (I am presently on #3). Give this a try – I don’t think you will be disappointed.

This book is frustrating! The mystery itself was interesting and while there are too many characters (it got confusing) I was pulled through the well written story. But, there is an underlying plot line of revenge (based on the previous book) that felt so completely made up and over the top. Yes, the actual murder was solved. But, the subplot, which is forced and seems too contrived, got left completely open ended and murkier within the last few pages. To me, the best book series are the ones where you fall in love with the characters and therefore read the next book. Leaving a cliff hanger open to coax people into reading the next one is frustrating. I’m going to skip the rest of this series. My sense is that I’d be disappointed in this subplot anyway.

After finishing Still Life, I left no time picking up A Fatal Grace and learning more about the characters I had come to love in Book 1. One of the things I love most about a well-done series is watching an author effortlessly weave new characters in and out of the path of old characters, introducing new dimension to those characters you’ve come to love. I can already tell from the second book in this series that Louise Penny is a master at this. In this story, another crime occurs (which by the way, how did Penny even come up with the idea for this crime?!) and Armand Gamache is brought in to investigate. If you’re like me, get ready to stay up late for the next few nights, because you won’t want to book this book down!

I thoroughly enjoy Louise Penny’s writing style. Within reading a few paragraphs of her first Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novel (Still Life), I knew was going to really like her books. The story is not “action-packed.” What it is, is a great mystery, filled with deeply developed characters. I care about these people, and feel what they’re feeling. The book takes its time building the story. The murder is not without several valid candidates who have motive and opportunity.
Follow the Chief Inspector as he methodically inspects the scene, collects and studies the evidence, and interviews everyone involved. The setting is Three Pines, a quaint town in Canada, which boasts a wide variety of citizenry.
If you like a good mystery, I think you’ll find this series delightful.

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