Ponder: The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast © 2015, Louise Penny's eleventh book in the Inspector Armand Gamache series, returns to her regular formula with a death near the beginning of the book. However, it is not immediately obvious if this death is accidental or an intentional murder. This death is especially sad and potentially distasteful since it involves a nine year old boy. He is an energetic, likable boy, prone to exaggeration and crying wolf due to his vivid imagination. How many enemies can a child accrue in his short life and what motive could there be to kill him... exasperation maybe, but murder? I was rapidly drawn into this story.

The majority of the action in this novel happens in Three Pines or close environs. As reality is separated from hyperbolical tale-telling, the story becomes less engaging for me. A parallel plot line involves historic development of weapons of mass destruction. It is based on a fact that I looked up in Wikipedia, something called Project Babylon, the development of a Supergun, involving Saddam Hussein. This book educated me but did not entertain me, aspects I pursue in my pleasure reading. A Supergun sequestered in the forests outside the peaceful quaint village of Three Pines is difficult to accept. Even Inspector Gamache is incredulous. As relayed in Chapter 16:

As the plot plods on, involving secret service agents, ballistic experts, and an imprisoned psychotic serial killer, I became less engaged. I think I would have preferred to read a discourse on Superman or even Superglue. Some mechanical transformer type aspects of the triggering mechanism of the Supergun, along with the efforts made to disguise it, did spark my interest; but my focus was preferentially pointed at resolving the circumstances of that nine year old boy to whom I had become attached at the very beginning. Similar to my discussion of Penny's sixth novel Bury Your Dead (my post for 2/24/21) my interest levels in each of the concurrent plot lines of this eleventh book were unequal. 

As usual the back story of the core characters of Armand, Jean-Guy, Reine Marie and the villagers encouraged me to read on. But this was not one of my favorite Louise Penny novels. I had given books six through nine in the Gamache series five stars; I had given four stars to book ten which I most recently completed. I give The Nature of the Beast my lowest rating yet of her books. I will not be deterred from reading her future ones however, even though I rate The Nature of the Beast only

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it

Ponder: The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home © 2014, Louise Penny's tenth book in the Inspector Armand Gamache series, is indeed investigative but there is no murder at the beginning that focuses questions and assesses suspects. This book is about searching for Clara Morrow's missing husband Peter who did not return after a one year agreed upon separation.  Both Clara and Peter are artists and once again this book has an art theme similar to Penny's first book Still Life (my post for 2/28/20) and her seventh book A Trick of the Light (my post for 3/2/21). I particularly liked the following aspects of this novel:

• Increased knowledge of Canada geography
• Travel aspect (since COVID-19 has made me home bound)
• Perspective on the community of the art world
• Further appreciation of paintings
• Clever phraseology and word definitions
• Views on retirement
  
  

Louise Penny has a winner in the idyllic setting of Three Pines and wisely keeps it in each of her novels. However, it is difficult to maintain belief, even fictional belief, that such a setting can support so many murders. This problem is like the one in the sleepy Maine village of Cabot Cove from the 12 season TV series Murder She Wrote fame. Murder mystery author and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher in the show never seems to run out of murders to solve.  Three Pines still plays apart in this tenth novel but, I think the strength of this book lies in its varied settings.

In The Long Way Home Armand Gamache has taken an early retirement, moving to the quaint Village of Three Pines. Four familiar characters, Clara (artist) Myrna (former psychologist and bookstore owner) Armand Gamache and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir  set off searching for Clara's husband and take the reader along with them to various locales, following the trail Peter Morrow took to discover himself as an artist. This traveling device gave me the opportunity to learn about several places. 

Further appreciation of paintings
Art galleries in Toronto introduced me to the artist Clarence Gagnon. His works were described as so warm and colorful I was compelled to look them up. He painted many scenes from Baie-Saint-Paul, a Quebec city on the northern shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the mouth of the Gouffre River; it known for its art galleries, shops, and restaurants. The search group went to Baie-Saint-Paul Here are two of Gagnon's works:  first, Winter Morning, Baie-Saint-Paul followed by A Québec Village Street. His works remind me a bit of Charles Wysocki.

Increased knowledge of Canada geography
Peter's trail out beyond the Canadian cities of Montreal in Québec and Toronto in Ontario is enabling me to pick up a bit more Canadian geography. Maybe I will get better at answering those province and territory questions about Canada on Jeopardy.

Travel aspect and perspectives on art world
Peter ventured beyond Canada in search of enlightenment, making visits to the countries of Scotland and France as well. I learned what Arrondissements (administrative districts) are in Paris, France. Peter's wanderings took him to 15th Arrondissement which is in Paris-South, south of the Eiffel Tower, bordering the Seine River, a gathering place for artists. The Wikipedia link for the 15th arrondissement describes it as 

... an eclectic residential area where quaint shops around La Motte Grenelle metro station give way to the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper. The Musée Bourdelle features sculptor Antoine Bourdelle's studio and garden where artists like Chagall also worked. The sprawling Parc André Citroën along the Seine draws tourists and families to greenhouses and a tethered hot-air balloon that offers city views.

In Dumfriesshire, Scotland I learned of an artist's garden called The Garden of Cosmic Speculation. Peter went there. The garden is private but usually opens for only five hours on one day each year for 1500 ticket holders, a fact alluded to in Penny's novel that piqued my curiosity enough to look up this garden.

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation is a 30 acre (12 hectare) sculpture garden created by landscape architect and theorist Charles Jencks at his home, Portrack House, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Like much of Jencks' work, the garden is inspired by modern cosmology....The garden is inspired by science and mathematics, with sculptures and landscaping on these themes, such as black holes and fractals. (photo credit)

In this novel, the high intensity action scene typically found near the end of Penny's books was the journey up the St. Lawrence River from Sept-Illes (on map halfway across and one fourth down) to Tabaquen (near Gros-Mécatina far right on the map) in a ship during a horrendous storm. Tabaquen translates as "sorcerer", a name which further contributes to setting a mood of unease.

Clever phraseology and word definitions
This novel like other's of Louise Penny is sprinkled with memorable, pithy phrases.

on courtesy and kindness:
Chief Inspector nevertheless understood that courtesy should not be mistaken for genuine kindness. One was nurture, a polite upbringing. The other was nature. [Chapter 7]

on jealousy:
"It's like drinking acid," said Myrna, "and expecting the other person to die." [Chapter 6]

Views on retirement
Armand Gamache is able to help Clara in the search for her husband since he took an early retirement from his position as Chief Inspector of the Sureté. His search for internal for calm after his stressful job and other people questioning if this lifestyle will be enough for him are topics touched on throughout. These thoughts resonate with the process my husband and I went through when we retired. I find writing these blog posts is reflective. Their length is definitely greater than a mere book review merits.

Rating
Normally I race through Louise Penny's novels. This one was not as much a page turner. I enjoyed it over several days and I found looking up obscure (new to me) places rewarding. I rate it

★★★★☆      Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience

Perhaps I am slowing down because I am tiring of Louise Penny, but I do not think so. I still intend to forge ahead and read her seventeen books in the Gamache series. Correction – I just learned an eighteenth is due out August 2021. I can do it. I am retired.

Ponder: How the Light Gets In

The ninth of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels,  How the Light Gets In ©2013 by Louise Penny, was another winner for me. Completing this book means I am past the halfway mark of reading her seventeen novels. The book had the familiar characters of Armand Gamache and his second in command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir; it eventually resolved a conflict between them, which had been left hanging at the end of the eighth novel. 

How the Light Gets In has three story plot lines running at the same time: a missing person case, corruption at the highest level of the Suréte, and the damaged relationship between Armand and Jean-Guy. Unlike my criticism of  the three-timeline Bury Your Dead (sixth novel reviewed in my post dated 2/24/21), all three plots of How the Light Gets In held my interest equally and intensely, prompting me to keep turning pages rapidly and eagerly. The book's setting has the reader traveling back and forth across the famous four-mile long Champlain Bridge between Montreal and the quaint village of Three Pines. 

The action takes place only partially in Three Pines but still the villagers play key roles.

• Myrna, the former psychologist who owns a book store, requests Armande's help in locating a friend of hers. Myrna's case involves an extremely well known personage; clues to its resolution take Armand beyond the environs of Three Pines. Although on the surface it appears to be a case of a missing person, foul play is eventually revealed both in the present and the past.
• In parallel, corruption within the internal affairs of Suréte is being revealed and a heinous crime is being flushed out. The action scenes from this corruption plot line are a primary source of suspense and continual tension while the climax near the end features key roles played by many of the Three Pines villagers.
• Ruth, the eccentric old poet with a pet duck named Rosa, is instrumental in repairing the relationship between Jean-Guy and Armand.

I rate How the Light Gets In five stars. Kudos to Louise Penny for pulling off the multiple plot lines with great skill while keeping my favorite characters playing key roles throughout.
★★★★★ Great! Read it!

Ponder: The Beautiful Mystery

The Beautiful Mystery ©2012 is the eighth book in the Chief Inspector Armande Gamache series by Louise Penny. I am still enamored by these murder mysteries, each a distinct case but still populated by a recurring cast of baseline characters that I have come to adopt as my literary family. The title refers to a series of chants that have such a mesmerizing, calming effect on both the singers and the listeners as to be referred to as "the beautiful mystery". The singers in this situation are monks in a monastery hidden deep in the woods of a secluded island in the wilds of Montreal. Despite a strict vow of silence, a dedicated work ethic, and a commitment to God, a murder is committed among their ranks. The meditative power of choral music, believed to be the precursor to Gregorian chants, is insufficient to deter one of the monks from being the perpetrator with his motive indiscernible.

In a setting with limited communications with the outside world, Chief Armande Gamache and his second in command Jean-Guy Beauvoir set out to investigate and solve the murder. Beginning to adjust to the cloistered atmosphere of the monastery while doggedly collecting information, evidence, and clues, their well oiled system is twisted askew by the abrupt, unannounced arrival of Chief Superintendent Sylvan Francoeur, Gamache's superior. Francoeur seems intent on thwarting their attempt to do their job, complicating the investigations for reasons unknown. He also is aiming to drive a wedge between Gamache and Beauvoir. You could say he threw a monk-ey wrench into the works. [Groan. Bad, bad pun.]

After reading each of Louise Penny's books I am curious to look into some of the background for her settings and situation. She modeled the fictional monastery of The Beautiful Mystery, Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, after the real Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, situated on the shores of Lake Memphremagog, less than 90 minutes east of Montreal

Bits of Penny's descriptive language throughout this novel periodically leapt out to amuse me:

When Lauds ended the Chief and Beauvoir stood in their pew, watching. It was, thought Beauvoir, a bit like taking the break in a game of pool. Balls heading off in all different directions. That's what this looked like. Monks going here, there and everywhere. Scattering, though not actually bounding off the walls. [Chapter 14]

Many of the brothers are fine musicians. We have recorders and violins. Or are they fiddles? I'm never quite sure what the difference is." [spoken by the abbot]
"One sings, the other dances," said Gamache.
The abbot looked at him with interest. "What a nice way of putting it." [Chapter 15]

Gamache picked up the page. "I don't suppose you have a photocopy machine?"
"No, but we have twenty-three monks." [Chapter 15]

The murder itself is well woven, as I have come to expect from a work of Louise Penny. Once again the intricate entanglements of the main murder storyline is intertwined with a parallel storyline of the personal relationship among the characters I have become so invested in. I am kept in suspense as to the revelation of the murderer and his motive until the very last pages. The closing Gamache/Beauvoir interactions shocked me and left me hungering for the next novel. At the risk of sounding like a Johnny-one-note I once again rate this Louise Penny book five stars. I devoured it, beginning one day and finishing it the next.
★★★★★ Great! Read it!

Ponder: A Trick of the Light

 A Trick of the Light © 2011 gives a fly on the wall view of the art world. The murder mystery by Louise Penny indeed portrays the emotional side of the art world – "does that stir you?" or "what feelings does it evoke?" But moreover, it also paints a picture of the competitive business side of the art world  – money grubbing, political maneuvering, back-stabbing, social posturing – where it is more important to make a buck than to make a statement. The insight I gained kept my interest once again with this, the seventh book I have read of Louise Penny's as she leads the reader through the sleuthing of Chief Inspector Armande Gamache.

The story takes place in two locations: first, the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Montréal, and second, the familiar quaint Québec village of Three Pines. Clara Morrow, a feature character in the Louise Penny novels is nervously having her first official private showing of her works, a coming out of sorts into the art community. At the vernissage, a cocktail-style party to launch Clara's first solo show, there was a variety of guests, from the straightforward villagers of Three Pines – Clara's husband and closest friends, to the highly polished socialites of the wealthy art community – art dealers and gallery owners, to the struggling poor artists – wannabe's valiantly striving to become famous. The stage is being set with suspects for a murder that has yet to happen in a location yet to be revealed.

The novel is sprinkled with bits of jealousy between husband and spouse and among "fellow" artists. Greed abounds as there is competition to sign on a lucrative artist, creating yet another motive for murder. But then again, is there revenge lurking as well for past slights? One aspect of Penny's work that I enjoy is that I rarely do guess "whodunnit" until the very last pages even though she provides an abundance of clues and motives.

The victim is discovered, the very night of Clara' vernissage, spoiling her night of recognition after lifelong efforts. To add insult to injury, the victim is found "among the bleeding hearts and lilacs" in Clara Morrow's very own garden, neck snapped. Along side/ underneath the body is found a coin with the image of a camel on it, the words of the serenity prayer on the reverse side.

God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can, and

The wisdom to know the difference

As the clues begin to amass, the reader is still simultaneously treated to tidbits of the inner turmoils of the private lives of Chief Inspector Armande Gamache's family and co-workers, all characters in which I maintain a vested interest. These back stories and continual growth of these individuals keep me wanting to launch into the next novel she has written. I am lucky that novels #8 and #9 just became available off my wait list at the library. I will stop blogging and begin reading!

But first a final detail: I rate A Trick of the Light five stars, a rating I have bestowed on four of the first seven of her books I have read: Still Life (4 ★s), A Fatal Grace (3 ★s), The Cruelest Month (5 ★s), A Rule Against Murder (5 ★s),  The Brutal Telling (5 ★s),  Bury Your Dead (4 ★s). In my rating system this rating translates to   ★★★★★  Great! Read it!