Ponder: A Rule Against Murder

A Rule Against Murder ©2008 is the fourth in the series of Chief Inspector Gamache novels by Louise Penny. I began it October 12th but did not post my thoughts about it until now. Hmm... can I remember that far back? Fortunately I bookmark phrases in books I find pleasurable in the language or sentiment to cite at a later time, so I will share those tidbits here.

I do recall that the location is a fresh change from the town of Three Pines near Montreal, quaint and  picturesque as it is. After all, how many murders can a small, pleasant, supposedly crime-free town support? In this novel Gamache is on a vacation with his wife at a resort, Manoir Bellechasse, a treat they allow themselves annually for their wedding anniversary. After only one chapter into A Rule Against Murder, I already wanted to visit Manoir Hovey, the actual Canada lakeside resort after which Penny modeled the resort in the book. Staying at a calm retreat such as these would be quite enjoyable as long as there wasn't a murder committed there during the visit. Gamache was not so lucky as to have an uninterrupted vacation. Several days into his stay, someone suffered an untimely death, yet to be determined if it was accidental or intentional.

The vacation started out relaxed, nostalgic, and indulgent. The food described is delectable and the desserts even more heavenly. Confronted with the choice of "fresh mint ice cream on an eclair filled with creamy dark organic chocolate" or a "pudding du chomeur à l'erable avec creme chantilly" I would be hard pressed to decide, as were Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie. I learned per Wikipedia that Pouding chômeur (literally unemployed man pudding) is a dessert that was created by female factory workers early during the Great Depression in Quebec, Canada. It is made from cake batter and hot syrup, then baked so the syrup bubbles up and through. 

"Oh, dear God," whispered Reine-Marie, turning to her husband.
"What was it Oscar Wilde said?"
"I can resist everything except temptation."

Wondering about the chosen title for this murder mystery novel, I learned its source fairly early on, at the end of Chapter Twelve. A conversation about the murder took place between Madam Dubois, owner of the resort, and Inspector Beauvois, Gamache's right hand man.

"What happened here last night isn't allowed," said Madame Dubois.
It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.
"You have a rule against murder?" he asked.
"I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a deal with the forest. Any death that wasn't natural wasn't allowed. Mice are caught alive and released. Birds are fed in the winter and even the squirrels and chipmunks are welcome. There's no hunting, not even fishing. The pact we made was that everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe."

This promise was hardly fulfilled when one guest is crushed in an extravagant manner and another is dangled from a rooftop. An attic room is filled with grotesque gargoyle-like taxidermic reminders of "what happens when creatures turn against each other."

As with Penny's works, the novel has an intriguing and delightfully detailed cast of characters. A large number of guests at the resort are members of a wealthy and dysfunctional family, there for a reunion. Gamache ponders on their clipped conversations with each other, ripe with mean innuendos. He described them as

... malevolent inflections that rode into polite conversations on the backs of reasonable word. And the feeling flattened and folded and turned into something else, like emotional origami. Made to look pretty, but disguising something not at all attractive.

Emotional origami! I have to remember that term; love it. Even the staff range in age and disposition, from the college students who are marking out the time in a summer job to the aged maitre'd who has been at the manor for years and takes huge pride in his work. 

Pierre Patenaude stood at the door of the kitchen. It was clean and orderly, everything in its place. The glasses lined up, the silverware in its sleeves, the bone china carefully stacked with fine tissue between each plate. He'd learned from his mother. She'd taught him that order was freedom. To live in chaos was to live in prison. Order freed the mind for other things.

Order was freedom - another phrase I want to remember! There is a wide selection of suspects for a murder - if it was indeed a murder. The technical aspects of how the deed could be pulled off is cause for consideration throughout the story and adds to the mystery. This book has characters that come alive, a plot that  challenges the intellect, conversations chock full of nastily amusing insinuations, all set in a location the reader would definitely like to visit. As a bonus, it is sprinkled throughout with brief, witty phrases that, far from being sesquipedalian, tickle and delight me, begging to be recalled and recounted.

I realize that for those who have not read Louise Penny's previous three books, a five-star rating is a stretch. At least half a star come from familiarity with the recurring characters I now view as friends. Nevertheless, because of the level of my general enjoyment, I would rate A Rule Against Murder five stars, which in my system translates to
 ★★★★★ Great! Read it!