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70 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The Brutal Telling" by Louise Penny, August 24, 2009
This review is from: The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Armand Gamache Mysteries) (Hardcover)
"The Brutal Telling" by Louise Penny is as much literary saga as mystery. As with any good saga the residents of the Canadian village of Three Pines are both fascinating and alive as they go about their daily lives that flow among the shops and houses surrounding the village green. As with any good mystery, the reader quickly becomes a participant in solving the crime at hand. Featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his homicide team for the Sūreté du Québec, this fifth and latest entry in the Three Pines series meets and exceeds expectations set by previous books.
The first chapter of this tale opens deep in the forest where we overhear a conversation between a man identified only as "The Hermit" and a man called Olivier. The tone carries hints of fantasy and the forest primeval as The Hermit warns, "Chaos is here, old son." There is an immediate sense of isolation and fear. The story then quickly shifts to the village and the discovery of the body in the village Bistro, a body recognized only by the Bistro's owner Olivier, who chooses to keep his knowledge of The Hermit to himself. Enter Chief Inspector Gamache and the hunt is on. Who is the dead man? Where was he killed and why? Who is telling the truth and who is lying? Who amongst them is a murderer?
"The Brutal Telling" stands out from the standard issue police procedural because, intertwined with the familiar workings of the murder investigation, are bits of poetry, art, and culinary magic. There is also history, philosophy, psychology, and wisdom woven into a tapestry that feels both ancient and new. Readers new to the series will be as delighted as those returning. This is a place where you want to linger and wander about. With "The Brutal Telling" Penny has produced that rare find: a literary mystery. Like good coffee on a cold day, it should be sipped slowly and savored to the last drop.
This review is based on an Early Reviewer's copy supplied by Minotaur Books through [...]
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50 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A modern updating of the traditional cozy, September 17, 2009
This review is from: The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Armand Gamache Mysteries) (Hardcover)
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"The Brutal Telling" is Louise Penny's fifth book set in the village of Three Pines, near Montreal. To get things rolling, an unknown hermit is found dead in the local bistro owned by two gay partners, Olivier and Gabri. Chief Inspector Armande Gamache and his colleagues Isabelle Lacoste and Jean Guy Beauvoir of the Surete du Quebec return to Three Pines to track down the murderer.
The Gamache books do a very good job of mixing a cozy-style mystery plot with the sort of subjects you'd find on PBS during the weekend (e.g., cooking, antiques, lifestyle portraits, travel, the arts). The puzzle at the heart of the mystery is not exceptional; many mystery lovers will figure out the culprit's identity before the end. Luckily, Penny's books have more to offer than the crime plot alone; the beautiful backdrop, the perceptive characters and the various other smaller subplot mysteries grab the reader's interest. None of it is very new, mind you, but it all adds up to make a good if not great read.
If you like P.D. James' Inspector Dalgliesh, you'll probably like Gamache. They're similar in their sensitivities and sensibilities. Also, the overall tone of this crime series reminds me of the British TV program "Midsomer Murders" featuring Inspector Barnaby. In that series, the village environment is used well, the crimes are shocking but not overly violent, and the characters draw you in with their small-town likability and, at times, eccentricities. I'd say the same is true of Penny's works including this one, "The Brutal Telling."
I give this book three stars because I found it entertaining and enjoyable but not especially innovative or enlightening; filling a novel with references to poetry and art, for example, isn't a substitute for actual ideas. That being said, if you really, really like contemporary cozies and you're growing tired of the unimaginative settings used in most modern mysteries, you'll probably find this novel rates four stars, maybe even five. And I don't think you'd be wrong.
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33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, October 30, 2009
This review is from: The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Armand Gamache Mysteries) (Hardcover)
I read and loved Louise Penny's previous novels and eagerly awaited this one. However, I was terribly disappointed. I found the premise preposterous, the development illogical and at times silly and the overall tale an ugly one. If I had read this novel first, I would not have become a Louise Penny fan.
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