★ 10/28/2013
The avuncular voice of narrator Ralph Cosham—British, seasoned with more than a hint of Quebecois—fully expresses the mood of wistful regret that permeates this ninth (and perhaps last) chronicle of Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec. This time, while being pushed to the brink of retirement, the shrewd sleuth also has to juggle a host of problems. His formerly faithful second-in-command and potential son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, is suffering from drug problems. Nearly all of Gamache’s ultra-efficient homicide team have been re-assigned by the villainous chief superintendent of police, who is about to unleash a long-planned attack against the Canadian government. Gamache’s quiet missing-persons case suddenly becomes a front-page story when the victim is revealed as the last of Canada’s famous Ouellet quintuplets. And then there’s a drowning death at the Champlain Bridge, which Gamache believes is neither an accident nor suicide. Cosham provides Gamache with a variety of spot-on vocal moods. There’s a flat, weary approach when he’s speaking with the uninspired and disrespectful new members of his team. But once on the job—issuing orders or interrogating suspects and witnesses—Cosham shifts to a hard-edged and no-nonsense delivery. Finally, he sounds thoughtful and relaxed when conversing with his family and the friends he’s made in the village of Three Pines, where much of the novel takes place. Cosham manages to distinguish the book’s many characters using only subtle shifts in tone, the one exception being the voice he lends shrill, foul-mouthed poetess Ruth Zardo, whose squawk sounds a bit like something her pet duck might utter. This engrossing, well-produced audio ends with a brief conversation between author and reader. A Minotaur hardcover. (Aug.)

Complex characterizations and sophisticated plotting distinguish Agatha-winner Penny’s masterful ninth novel (after 2012’s The Beautiful Mystery). The devastating conclusion to the previous book saw Jean-Guy Beauvoir abandon his mentor, Chief Insp. Armand Gamache of the Quebec Sûreté, and return to substance abuse. Things have never looked bleaker for the unassuming and empathic Gamache. A corrupt superior has gutted his homicide department, and the agents he now supervises treat their cases with blatant indifference. Amid all this personal and professional turmoil, Gamache lands a strange murder case. There’s no obvious motive for why somebody killed elderly Constance Ouellet—the only living member of a set of quintuplets who were national celebrities in their youth—by striking her in the head with a lamp. Fair-play clues lead to a surprising solution to the murder, while Gamache’s battle to save his career unfolds with subtlety and intelligence. Once again, Penny impressively balances personal courage and faith with heartbreaking choices and monstrous evil. First printing of 300,000; author tour. Agent: Patty Moosbrugger, Teresa Chris Literary Agency. (Aug.)

A magnificent writer who deftly and sympathetically explores the dark desires, pains and joys of the human heart in each immaculately-crafted tale she writes.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer on How the Light Gets In

“Masterful...Once again, Penny impressively balances personal courage and faith with heartbreaking choices and monstrous evil.” —Publishers Weekly (starred) on How the Light Gets In

“Penny has always used setting to support theme brilliantly, but here she outdoes herself, contrasting light and dark, innocence and experience, goodness and evil both in the emotional lives of her characters and in the way those characters leave their footprints on the landscape. Another bravura performance from an author who has reinvented the village mystery as profoundly as Dashiell Hammett transformed the detective novel.” —Booklist (starred) on How the Light Gets In

“Highly recommended for mystery lovers, readers who enjoy character-driven mysteries, and those who like seeing good triumph and evil get its just desserts.” —Library Journal (starred) on How the Light Gets In

“Three Pines, with its quirky tenants, and luminous insights into trust and friendship...will hook readers and keep them hooked.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred) on How the Light Gets In

“Penny writes with grace and intelligence about complex people struggling with complex emotions. But her great gift is her uncanny ability to describe what might seem indescribable – the play of light, the sound of celestial music, a quiet sense of peace.” —New York Times Book Review

“Gorgeous writing…fresh and fully realized.” —The Washington Post on The Beautiful Mystery

“Penny proves again that she is one of our finest writers.” —People on A Trick of the Light

★ 10/01/2013
Set in present-day Quebec around the Christmas season, this amazing entry in Penny's (The Beautiful Mystery) popular series integrates sociopolitical commentary with well-drawn and, by now, familiar characters as it wraps up many of the plots and themes that had their roots in earlier books. Myrna Landers is upset that her houseguest is late arriving for the holiday festivities, but she's reluctant to tell Inspector Gamache the woman's name. Meanwhile, he's trying to keep his department together, even as many of his colleagues leave. As in all previous books in the series, literary detective fiction and philosophy are intertwined as well with humor, tragedy, love, betrayal, intrigue, friendship, and faith. Narrator Ralph Cosham moves seamlessly from character to character, adding depth to each; his narration, coupled with a suspenseful writing style, make for edge-of-your-seat listening. VERDICT Highly recommended for series devotees or fans of literary mysteries. [See the Q&A with author Penny on p. 48.—Ed.]—Sandra C. Clariday, Tennessee Wesleyan Coll. Lib., Athens

Louise Penny's Three Pines mysteries are eminently satisfying due to their imaginative variety. The stories include scenes of Montreal sophistication and gritty crime contrasted with the idyllic setting of Three Pines. There’s also literary appeal, quirky humor, and—let’s not forget—murder. Here Ralph Cosham infuses his performance of French-Canadian Inspector Gamache with his usual warmth. Cosham ably captures Gamache's controlled musings and infinite patience, and he gives the policeman a signature style: a subtle additional syllable each time the contemplative detective begins to speak. Gamache is drawn deep into the past as he seeks safe harbor from menacing adversaries while investigating a murder in Montreal that has ties to Three Pines. A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is pushed toward retirement. It's a great relief for Inspector Gamache to get out of the office and head for Three Pines to help therapist-turned-bookseller Myrna find out why her friend Constance Pineault didn't turn up for Christmas. Except for Isabelle Lacoste, Gamache's staff has been gutted by Chief Superintendent Francoeur. Gamache's decisions have been mostly ignored and bets placed on how soon he'll admit redundancy and retire. Even worse, a recent tragedy (The Beautiful Mystery, 2012, etc.) has led his second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, to transfer out of Gamache's department, fall sway to prescription drugs and hold his former boss in contempt. En route to Three Pines, Gamache happens upon a fatality at the Champlain Bridge and agrees to handle the details. But this case takes a back seat to the disappearance of Constance when she turns up dead in her home. Myrna confides Constance's secret: As the last surviving Ouellet quintuplet, she'd spent her adult years craving privacy after the national publicity surrounding the birth of the five sisters had turned them into daily newspaper fodder. Why would anyone want to murder this reclusive woman of 79? The answer is developed through clues worthy of Agatha Christie that Gamache interprets while dealing with the dismemberment of his homicide department by Francoeur, who's been plotting a major insult to Canadian government for 30 years. Matters come to a head when Gamache and the one Sûreté chief still loyal to him and her husband, a computer whiz, are tracked to Three Pines, where Beauvoir awaits, gun in hand. Of the three intertwined plots, the Francoeur scheme is the deadliest, and the Ouellet saga will remind readers of the real-life Dionne family debacle of the 1940s. But it's Three Pines, with its quirky tenants, resident duck and luminous insights into trust and friendship, that will hook readers and keep them hooked.