Friday 30 May 2014

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse May Meeting 2014








MAY MEETING 2014

The Cephalopod Coffeehouse is an online gathering of bloggers who love books hosted by 


The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.  Go to the link above to post a link for your favourite book read this month. 

My favourite book this month and a 5* rating from me is another book from Louise Penny, the third book in her series of books set in the fictional village of Three Pines a little way from Quebec and featuring Inspector Armand Gamache from the Sûreté du Quebec.   You can read this book as a stand-alone book but if possible read the first two books in the series before as it will help with the characters.   

There are ten books published in this series and another one in the pipeline. 


Chief Inspector Gamache Books





5*
Approx. 458 pages

This is the third book in a series starring Inspector Armand Gamache from the Sûreté du Quebec and again is set around a death in the fictional village of Three Pines. 

‘Once found Three Pines was never forgotten but it was only ever found by people lost.’

Although you can read all of Louise Penny’s books as stand-alone novels, it is probably better to start with the first one as many of the characters develop as the series continues and to date there are ten books in the series. 

It is a nice meaty book to get in to with flashbacks to a previous controversy concerning the Inspector which is explained, to an extent, as the book progresses.  Louise deals with the insecurities of people’s characters, intertwining their strengths as well.  The intricacies of living in a small village that boasts a set of shops and a bistro where people gather who are looked after well by the extrovert couple of Olivier and Gabri who also run the local B & B.

It is early April, Easter weekend and eggs are being hidden for the local children to find and a séance has been organised for the adults presided over by a visiting medium/psychic.   A haunted house and a death follow, fear and terror and horror invade all those attending.  The Sûreté du Quebec become involved when it is realised the victim didn't die naturally as was first thought. 

Louise Penny is able to describe the village, its inhabitants, the after effects and consequences of a sudden death, drawing you intimately into the village and the people who live there.  We also find out more about the characters of the Sûreté du Quebec involved in the investigation. 

A good book is one where the characters stay with you long after you have put the book down and this is one such book.

I will certainly read the rest of the books in the series.  Highly recommended for those who like mystery/thrillers in a Agatha Christie type of style with other themes running through following the lives of all the characters.
 





9 comments:

  1. This sounds like a great series for my mother, who loves mysteries. I will recommend it to her. Thanks!

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  2. Sounds like a terrific series. Thanks!

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  3. It sounds interesting, but I will probably try to read Agatha, first, since I have a few of her books in my stack that I've never gotten to.

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  4. I do like a good mystery - maybe I'll have to start with the first book in the series :)

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  5. Sounds interesting. I love mysteries that deal with the deal with the dark underbelly of small towns.I might have to give this a shot.

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  6. Ooh, I love mysteries and the idea of other themes w/ the familiar characters running throughout is definitely intriguing. Thanks for this review! Hope you enjoy the rest of the books in the series as much.

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  7. My husband & I LOVE Louise Penny's books and have read them all. The last two books had me reading with dread and hoping for a better outcome for two of the characters. Her books are the ones I look forward to and dread at the same time, filling the in-between times of reading hers with soft & fluffy comfort reading. Only because Louise Penny has created in her writings people I care about. As far as my husband & I are concerned, when a writer creates people you care about , be they villain or hero, the writer has written books worth the time to read.

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  8. Your link on the list is for your March post. I'll fix it in just a sec... and... done.

    We are big fans of Quebec, the border being less than an hour's drive from our house. Penny's not a French name, though, which made me curious - just looked her up. She's an Ontarian by birth but lives in Quebec's Eastern Townships - very close to us, indeed. The Townships were largely settled by English loyalists after the American Revolution so the area is firmly bilingual, more so than other parts of the province.

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  9. Sounds great! I agree...a good book is one you keep thinking about after you've finished. It's also one you find yourself thinking about during the time you're reading it, over the course of a day. You start looking forward to getting back to it again!

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