Summer Installment #2 - 2 Louise Penny Mysteries

I love Louise Penny murder mysteries. They're more suited for grown-ups, just because they move kind of slowly and the writing is pretty complex with lots of French thrown in, but high school students who enjoy mysteries would like them. I first read one of her mysteries a few years ago when she won a big mystery writing prize, and I've been working my way through ever since. She sets all her mysteries in and around a small fictional town in Quebec, Canada, called Three Pines. It sounds like a magical place, really, aside form the fact that there are murders and mayhem happening all too often. But besides that, who wouldn't want to live there? :-)


I heard an interview with her recently, and she said that she had to draw herself a map of Three Pines so she didn't accidentally put something in the wrong place. She also said she wasn't even sure the first would ever be sold, let alone a whole series. Nice to be wrong like that I'm thinking.

Recommended for high school and adult readers of mysteries. Available at the Multnomah County Library.

Five adult novels

A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny. A mystery set in the small town of Three Pines in Canada. had no idea who did it over most of the novel, and then when I actually DID figure it out I decided I was wrong. good thing I never became a detective!

I Heart New York - Lindsey Kelk. A chick lit book that I liked but didn't love. It was a nice easy read that suited me at the time I picked it up. I was expecting something different, so that was kind of nice in a way.

A Darcy Christmas - Grange, Lathan, & Eberhart. I think I OD'd on Pride and Prejudice sequels a little before I picked this one up. Also, it was three short stories, and I'm just not a big short story fan. There are other P&P sequels I'd choose over this.

A Duty to the Dead - Charles Todd. Reminded me of the Jacqueline Winspear Maisie Dobbs books. War nurse, mystery, secrets and lies. Good stuff. I actually like the Maisie Dobbs series a little better than this, but I'm wondering if it's because I've read so many of the Maisie books that I really feel I know her now. I'm checking out another Bess Crawford mystery to see if over time I like her as well as Maisie.

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffeneger. SERIOUSLY cannot believe the ending of this book. It was a weird book the whole way through, requiring lots of suspension of disbelief, and then WHAM! What the heck??? Nuff said.

Still Life - Louise Penny

This book is an adult mystery novel that was reviewed as one of the ten best mysteries of the year. I thought it was a little slow at first, but I grew to really enjoy it. It was one I listened to, and I think that if I had been able to read it, I'd have started to enjoy it sooner. This book is not a thriller mystery, but a bit of a psychological mystery that engrosses an entire small town in Quebec province, Canada after a woman who's lived there for many years is killed by bow and arrow. It seems at first that this was a hunting accident but it turns out not to have been, and this sends the people of the town into a bit of a tailspin.

Many secrets of the town's residents are revealed over the course of the investigation, secrets they clearly would rather have left alone. Some of the secrets turn out to be closely related to the mystery, and some do not, but all dovetail into the answer in one way or another.

There is a whole art component to this story as well, and while it is central to the mystery, it's also quite informative about art, and I thought it was interesting how the author wove this in to the story. I'm curious about her background and whether she knew some things about art before she started or had to research everything. I'm thinking the former, but you never know.

I'd recommend this to adult readers who like mysteries that aren't necessarily thrillers. Available at the Multnomah County Library.