I’ll find him eventually, you know. It’s what I do. But it’s a terrible, terrible process. You have no idea what’s about to be unleashed. And once it starts, it won’t stop until the murderer is found. [loc. 1604]
I stocked up on Louise Penny books when there was a deal on them a few months ago, and the days between Christmas and New Year seemed a good time to read a couple more. The Beautiful Mystery takes Gamache and Beauvoir away from Three Pines, to the isolated monastery of Saint Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, where a monk has been murdered. The Gilbertine monks recently made a CD of Gregorian chant which has been wildly popular: Frère Mathieu, prior and choirmaster, was keen to make another CD and use the proceeds to repair the crumbling monastery. The Abbot, Dom Philippe, would prefer not to -- but the monks of Saint Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups have been selected for their voices, and some believe their chants are the literal voice of God.
Meanwhile, Beauvoir is still suffering the after-effects of the 'factory job' (Bury Your Dead): he's in a relationship with Gamache's daughter Annie (which he thinks Gamache doesn't know about), but is becoming increasingly unstable. And when Gamache's nemesis, Chief Superintendent Sylvain Françoeur, shows up unexpectedly, Beauvoir's loyalties will be tested.
I didn't enjoy this as much as most of the other Gamache novels I've read so far: I missed the Three Pines characters, the all-male community felt claustrophoic, and the murder mystery was less interesting than the background of Gregorian chant and musical notation. But the final scenes were wrenching, and I was very glad I didn't have to wait long to read the next in the series.
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