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Fiction. Mystery. HTML: In Still Life, bestselling author Louise Penny introduces Monsieur L'Inspecteur Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec, a modern Poirot who anchors this beloved traditional mystery series Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces??-and this series??-with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise… (more)
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Welcome to the picturesque little town of Three Pines, Quebec, not far from the city of Montreal. A colony of mostly artists, quaint shops, a misplaced black woman who owns a charming used book store, a cranky and aging poet laureate, a couple of gay men who own the B&B and a restaurant where everything is for sale, including the chair you’re sitting in. The complete cast of characters is a fascinating study of small town inhabitants and the author draws a compelling storyline that demonstrates a deep understanding of human motives and relationships.
It’s Thanksgiving week and the unheard of has happened—the dead body of retired school teacher and aspiring artist Jane Neal has been found in the woods. Everyone assumes there has been a hunting accident; however, it is up to the charismatic Chief Inspector Armand Gamache to determine what, if any, crime has been committed here. He travels from his headquarters in Montreal with his associates and begins his investigation. He is an investigator who has many gifts that he employs in his line of duty, none as important as his uncanny observational and listening skills. He tries to impart his knowledge and expertise to his young female trainee, but her resistance to his advice provides an additional storyline to the narrative.
We follow Gamache and the town residents on the investigational journey which leads to many possible suspects and theories. Just when you think you have it figured out, the plot twists and you’re left going in another direction. I loved the fact that I couldn’t figure it out right away and a couple theories I had didn’t pan out. Very entertaining. I know this is the first in a series and I will be looking for the next volume very soon. Highly recommended.
A wonderfully rich small-town setting and deftly painted characterizations enliven this mystery, giving it appeal beyond the whodunnit aspect. Cerebral and insightful, Chief Inspector Gamache is an engaging and winning character whom readers will be pleased to be reacquainted in later volumes of Penny’s well-written mystery series. Recommended for fans of both literary fiction and mysteries.
Review written January 2011
Well, I'm certainly going to try again with the next in the series. And I'll keep trying till I get it right! (Just my excuse to read more of these delightful books.)
I appreciate the lack of graphic violence, blood and gore. This book proves it is not necessary for a good story. There were despicable characters and a tense, creepy scene at the end. Even idyllic settings need the elements of mystery and fear to keep those pages flying to reach the climax. Whew! Good stuff.
I'm late to the party with this one. A co-worker of mine named it as one of her favorite reads last year, and several people here on LibraryThing have sung its praises much more skillfully than I. All I can say is its one of those stories that gripped me from the first sentences. The blend of humor and seriousness, wonderfully vibrant characters and compelling mystery made this an incredibly difficult book to put down. I'm glad it's the first in a series, because I don't want to leave Three Pines behind. What else can I say? Still Life is definitely on my list of favorites for the month, and will probably make my list of top reads for the year.
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Flea’s picks for me take me out of my comfort zone this year. The village cozy is virtually virgin land for me. I’m somewhat surprised that this book charmed and gripped me the way it did. Penny has populated Three Pines with charming, unusual characters, all of whom know each other really well. This creates a certain ambience, the growing unease in knowing one of your neighbors is a killer, but also the annoyance of trying to conduct a police investigation in a place where word gets around like a wildfire. Many of Penny’s rather large cast are memorable, and make this a place to revisit. One or two might be slightly over the top – eternally wise-cracking Gabri and perhaps especially Nichol, whose utter lack of self-awareness is a bit much to swallow at times.
The tendency of swapping perspectives between characters completely haphazardly is also a little distracting, especially since Penny needs to keep secrets from the reader even when we enter someone’s mind. There’s a bit too much of “He thought about the thing he knew he couldn’t say” going on. And, as often seems the case, the red herrings are perhaps a bit more interesting than the actual solution. But with the charm, wit and tenderness at the core of this book, such flaws are easily forgiven. Getting a small sliver of information on the tension between French and English speakers in Canada along the way was a nice bonus too.
Still Life, is in essence what its name tells you it is. It is painting of a small town made up of pieces that make up the still life. Within it is another painting as well. A palimpsest of art that tells a story is written within this book. You could look at this book in the same way you would look at a still life painting. It is made up with everyday objects that you would not give a second look at until they are grouped together. Louise Penny brings this story to you as a painter brings simple objects to your attention. The light, the composition, the relationships of the objects all come together to leave you in love with the entire portrait, not just the detective. Having it set in a small town just outside of Montreal lent it a tiny bit of foreignness to this stateside girl. All in all I really like this novel. The characters were complex yet believable, the quirkiness of the village was realistic and the evil not so horrid as to be unreadable. The villains were the criminals and the saviors and I fell in love with the little town of Three Pines.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec is summoned to the small town of Three Pines to investigate the death of 76-year-old Jane Neal. While everyone in town loved Jane and the locals are certain it is a hunting accident, Gamache senses there is more going
“Clara shrugged and immediately knew her betrayal of Peter. In one easy movement she'd distanced herself from his bad behavior, even thought she herself was responsible for it. Just before everyone had arrived, she'd told Peter about her adventure with Gamache. Animated and excited she'd gabbled on about her box and the woods and the exhilarating climb up the ladder to the blind. But her wall of words hid from her a growing quietude. She failed to notice his silence, his distance, until it was too late and he'd retreated all the way to his icy island. She hated that place. From it he stood and stared, judged, and lobbed shards of sarcasm.”
Still Life is the first installment of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache crime series and I must say right from the outset, I love Louise Penny’s writing. There is a quiet, composed beauty to the way she uses language. She doesn’t write a story as much as she weaves it together with subtle hues. Written as a closed-room mystery, the best part of Still Life is how Penny begins with what appears to be a town full of people who love each other and everyone gets along. Slowly, but surely we find out that this isn’t necessarily the case. There are many simmering feuds and relationships that only require the slightest bit of kindling to bring to a boil.
In addition, Gamache is a subtle, highly nuanced lead character, in contract to the never-ending parade of hard-edged detectives in literature these days. Frankly, as someone whose brother is a detective, I must say that Gamache is the most realistic detective I’ve seen in fiction in a long time. Coupled with Penny’s writing, it fits so perfectly. The flow of the story telling in Still Life meshes well with the story itself. The plot is well done and the conclusion wraps up so well.
If you are looking for a wiz-bang thrill ride of a story, Still Life isn’t the book for you. However, if you are looking for a treatise on what happens to people and close relationships when an unexpected death takes place, you are in for a real treat. I completely enjoyed Still Life and am looking forward to continuing Penny’s series.
Still Life is the first of Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series. Penny establishes herself as a well-written and engaging mystery writer; the drama here unfolded believably and with just the right number of red herrings to keep my reading chair warm! Her lead character, Gamache, is one I want to read more about: quiet, unassuming, capable, and charismatic. Recommended!
This is not a traditional who dunnit. It's an exploration of human relationships and foibles, the inner currents that motivate us: we are all fallible, and some of us fail and succumb. What's best are the parallel tales, this time with Philippe and his father, but also that curious Arnot case which is already rearing its ugly head. A wonderful setup for the stories to come... I can't wait for more!
All-in-all, I'm looking forward to reading future Penny books.
Still Life moves beyond the confines of traditional genre fiction, and becomes a Novel in every valuable sense of the word. I will certainly be pursuing the series in the future, with much delight and anticipation.
Since this is book
“Life is choice. All day, everyday. Who we talk to, where we sit, what we say, how we say it. And our lives become defined by our choices. It's as simple and as complex as that. And as powerful. so when I'm observing that's what I'm watching for. The choices people make”
There is a fundamental need for people to be heard - at a customer service desk to complain, as a teacher of young, malleable minds, a wise friend with broad, proverbial shoulders, or a parent to a strong-willed child. Listening. Patience. The hero to storm a building is as important as the mastermind to plot out the best plan of attack. I rather see our Chief Inspector as the seemingly nonchalant, patient observer, listening and planning his next step. What makes him so intriguing is the subtle way he goes about it, reminding me of other great detectives I have read, like Sherlock, Poirot, or Cormoran Strike.
With such a great main character, the story can be in any setting...this one in a cozy and traditional town where everyone knows your name, temperament, quirks, and at times, some secret or two. In a nutshell, the locals of the town own a piece of the puzzle to solve the murder. Isn't that always how it goes? But even with, for lack of a better word...this formula, characters make or break a story. This is where Louise Penny shines and hooks the reader. Its no wonder she's amassed so many awards for her writing.
I was surprised to see genres in mystery: cozy, crime, hard-boiled, detective, whodunit, etc... I much prefer logic-driven "cozy" mysteries above action-fueled thrillers. I'm certainly going to be reading more of this author.
Penny takes the reader deeply into what
I wasn't sure I'd like this series set near my hometown. For one thing, I've read less than a handful of books set in my region, with which I've always had a love/hate relationship, and for another, I had the impression this mystery might be a little too much on the "cozy" side for my tastes. The story made for a pleasant listening experience with Ralph Cosham as the audiobook narrator, but it wasn't until I got to halfway through that I even became curious to find out who the killer was; the people and the place seemed a little too quaint and as a local, I wasn't thrilled to hear the inevitable references made about the friction between Anglo and Francophone cultures, something that has always bothered me as a local, but which needed to be broached at least in the first book in the series, as it's very much an ongoing issue in these parts. But after being assured the series only keeps getting better as it goes on, and then getting discouraged when it seemed the second book was nowhere to be found at the library, where it was listed under a different title, I realized I probably enjoyed the first book more than I realized after all. And since I really want to read Bury Your Dead, book #6, which seems to be an all around favourite without skipping ahead, I'm willing to settle back and try to read on with the fresh and less jaded perspective of a visitor to my home region.