A Fatal Grace (Three Pines Mysteries, No. 2) Summary and Reviews

A Fatal Grace (Three Pines Mysteries, No. 2)
by Louise Penny

A Fatal Grace (Three Pines Mysteries, No. 2)
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Book Summary Information

Author: Louise Penny
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-15
ISBN: 0312352565
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur

Book Reviews of A Fatal Grace (Three Pines Mysteries, No. 2)

Book Review: A Murder and Mayhem Bookclub review
Summary: 4 Stars

Here we have the winter, with the promise of spring and summer to follow. The Canadian village of Three Pines takes great comfort in its traditions, always with the expectation of total community involvement. The annual Boxing Day curling match has the villagers either out there on the ice or enthusiastically barracking from the river's banks. CC de Poitiers was no exception, and her killer knew this would be so. It arises a certain admiration from Chief Inspector Armand Gamache that the murderer was so confident of the village spirit that he, or she, dared to murder the newest and very unpopular arrival in plain sight of them all. Electrocuting one person in a crowd of hundreds, out in the open in the coldest month of the year took an incredible amount of daring, and sadly, local knowledge to be successful.

It is not Gamache's first contact with Three Pines. A year ago the Surete du Quebec assigned him to investigate there another murder investigation, shocking particularly for its occurrence in such a beautiful and peaceful place. He remembers the villagers fondly from this time, as likewise they do of him and so the weight of intruding upon their world again does not sit well upon the quiet and dutiful police officer. Gamache knows that sometimes new arrivals stir up old fires and it doesn't take much to appreciate that the deceased had her share of enemies both old and new.

Readers who fell upon and rolled happily about with Louise Penny's debut novel STILL LIFE will do so joyfully again with DEAD COLD. If this is a first encounter with Three Pines, fear not, as this novel stands well on its own as a pearler of a crime novel. It is doing these books a great disservice to describe them primarily as village murder mysteries; there is much to encounter and delightfully complex personalities are there for your dissecting pleasure. There is always a great comfort in the reappearance of known characters and so we greet again Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, artfully applying his keen and particular mind again to solve the crime that few feel truly needs to be solved. With great dexterity, teasing information out piece by piece Louise Penny leads her readers through her utopian Three Pines, showing great love for the Canadian countryside in which her novels are set.

While her descriptive narrative alone is lyrical enough to make you want to jump on a plane, Penny's writing skills shine also with her detailed character studies. DEAD COLD is not a whodunit; more time is devoted to the why it is that the act of murder becomes so necessary to those that choose that path. Whether it is a blessed release or a frightful act of violence, judgement is kept to a minimum.

Welcome to a new "classic" crime series.


Andrea Thompson
[...]

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