A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
Goodreads - A Fatal Grace
Chief Inspector Gamache Novel #2
Rating: A
Summary:
Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.
No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.
When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?
With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.
Rating:
To begin with, I have to be honest that I accidentally read this novel before the first one. I didn't realize it was the second in the series until close to the end because characters and place were introduced in such a way that I still understood what was going on. If you were to accidentally pick this up as I did, you would be fine to jump in.
However, I think everything became much clearer to me after I read the first one and was able to see the growth of characters from one book to the next.
I'm not sure if I liked this one better because I read it first by accident or because I loved the way that this story focused on the twists of not one, but two murders.
CC de Poitiers is a very unlikable woman. From the very first sentence, we see that she is lacking in compassion or really any basic human emotions that do not focus solely on herself. I love how as we are getting to know CC's character in the first chapter, they weave in descriptions of CC's daughter, Crie. Crie is a very unhappy child. I immediately wanted to wrap her in my arms and give her a huge hug because we can see she is made fun of at home, at school, and even just on the street. She is an obese little girl who is called "Brie" even by the teachers at her school.
CC cannot be bothered to go to Crie's school play, which Crie is performing in for the first time in her own homemade costume, because CC is too busy having an affair with her hired photographer.
From these first very few details we are brought into the world of this family and you almost immediately could care less about CC and her "dreams." However, when CC is murdered, we are still drawn to help solve the mystery, if for no other reason than that it is so compelling how she dies and how little anyone in the entire town cares.
Again, we find ourselves in the town of Three Pines with my favorite characters. The Morrows return, specifically Clara, who again takes a lead role in helping Inspector Gamache. I feel like she is the Michelle to Gamache's Ben Matlock. She is a helpful avenue for Gamache to bounce ideas off of, even though she is not in the police force.
I feel drawn to her character because she is so relatable. She is a struggling artist who just came into money for the first time in her life. She is excited to be able to actually buy a Christmas gift for her husband, rather than having to make one again this year. She is jealous of her husband's success, and understandably hurt when CC tells her that her art is worthless. Yet, through all of this, she still helps to find CC's killer.
We get to see more of many other familiar faces as well, including the unloved Yvette Nichol who is very obviously up to nefarious plots.
In the end, I feel we are left with a major cliff hanger in the life of Armand Gamache. I know that I cannot wait to read the next one and find out what is happening behind the scenes.
I would recommend this book a hundred times for fans of mysteries or small town novels.
Goodreads - A Fatal Grace
Chief Inspector Gamache Novel #2
Rating: A
Summary:
Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.
No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.
When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?
With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.
Rating:
To begin with, I have to be honest that I accidentally read this novel before the first one. I didn't realize it was the second in the series until close to the end because characters and place were introduced in such a way that I still understood what was going on. If you were to accidentally pick this up as I did, you would be fine to jump in.
However, I think everything became much clearer to me after I read the first one and was able to see the growth of characters from one book to the next.
I'm not sure if I liked this one better because I read it first by accident or because I loved the way that this story focused on the twists of not one, but two murders.
CC de Poitiers is a very unlikable woman. From the very first sentence, we see that she is lacking in compassion or really any basic human emotions that do not focus solely on herself. I love how as we are getting to know CC's character in the first chapter, they weave in descriptions of CC's daughter, Crie. Crie is a very unhappy child. I immediately wanted to wrap her in my arms and give her a huge hug because we can see she is made fun of at home, at school, and even just on the street. She is an obese little girl who is called "Brie" even by the teachers at her school.
CC cannot be bothered to go to Crie's school play, which Crie is performing in for the first time in her own homemade costume, because CC is too busy having an affair with her hired photographer.
From these first very few details we are brought into the world of this family and you almost immediately could care less about CC and her "dreams." However, when CC is murdered, we are still drawn to help solve the mystery, if for no other reason than that it is so compelling how she dies and how little anyone in the entire town cares.
Again, we find ourselves in the town of Three Pines with my favorite characters. The Morrows return, specifically Clara, who again takes a lead role in helping Inspector Gamache. I feel like she is the Michelle to Gamache's Ben Matlock. She is a helpful avenue for Gamache to bounce ideas off of, even though she is not in the police force.
I feel drawn to her character because she is so relatable. She is a struggling artist who just came into money for the first time in her life. She is excited to be able to actually buy a Christmas gift for her husband, rather than having to make one again this year. She is jealous of her husband's success, and understandably hurt when CC tells her that her art is worthless. Yet, through all of this, she still helps to find CC's killer.
We get to see more of many other familiar faces as well, including the unloved Yvette Nichol who is very obviously up to nefarious plots.
In the end, I feel we are left with a major cliff hanger in the life of Armand Gamache. I know that I cannot wait to read the next one and find out what is happening behind the scenes.
I would recommend this book a hundred times for fans of mysteries or small town novels.
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