“Not everything needed to be brought into the light, he knew. Not every truth needed to be told.”
Reading The Cruellest Month (third in the series) reminded me that (a) I enjoy Penny's 'Three Pines' series very much (b) I found The Brutal Telling (fifth in the series) an uncomfortable read, and attributed this to reading it out of sequence. When I discovered that I could borrow the fourth novel, A Rule Against Murder (under its US title, The Murder Stone) from Internet Archive, I decided it was time to fill in the gaps.
Inspector Gamache and his wife, the fragrant Reine-Marie, are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, a beautiful and secluded inn not far from the village of Three Pines. Most of the rooms at the inn have been taken by members of the Finney family, rich and entitled, who are using their reunion to make one another miserable. There are surprise guests, a tremendous storm, an ungendered child named Bean, and an impossible murder.
Which is, of course, Gamache's milieu (though the Finneys think he is a shopkeeper). Lacoste and Beauvoir arrive on the scene, and Gamache's steely resolution and profound understanding of humanity are focussed on the murder -- though there are subplots and layers: fathers and sons, wealth and ruin...
I felt there were some weaknesses in the plot, but overall this was a good read, and kept me guessing until the eventual revelation of the murderer's identity and motivation. And it was interesting to see a little more of Gamache's personal life, and his relationship with his own son. I did miss the ambience and characters of Three Pines, though.
After this I reread The Brutal Telling in preparation for the sixth book in the series...
Fulfils the ‘set during a holiday you don't celebrate’ rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge. The action occurs around Canada Day, 1st July.
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