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57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Rule: never perform card tricks for people you play poker with." Proverb, July 12, 2010
Armand Gamache and his wife arrive at Manoir Bellechasse, for their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary, expecting a quiet, romantic vacation.
They are the ideal guests, not complaining and happy with the room they are given. They are greeted by their old friend, innkeeper Clementine Dubois, at the reception desk.
Clementine tells them that the Finneys have taken the other five rooms for a reunion, all coming in their expensive cars and asking for free upgrades.
The highlight of the Finney's vacation is the unveiling of the statue of Mrs. Finney's former husband, Charles Morrow.
We learn some of the family antagonisms which come to a point when the statue of Morrow is overturned and beneath the statue is the body of one of the Finneys.
As the family is interviewed, we learn more of the petty jealousies and dislikes that members of the family had toward each other.
The author has a way of describing the action as if the reader was a guest at the inn, observing the character's actions and listening to their complaints.
A well done mystery with excellent characters and a well described setting. I kept trying to guess who the killer might be, only to be surprised.
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 stars - Gamache on a busman's holiday, December 3, 2008
This review is from: The Murder Stone (Paperback)
First Sentence: More than a century ago the Robber Barons discovered Lac Massawippi.
Inspector Armund Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie have come to Manoir Bellechasse where they've come for more than 30 years to celebrate their wedding anniversary. They find the rest of the rooms in the small hotel reserved by members of the Finney family. A surprise comes when the Gamache's discover two members of the Finney family are their friends Peter and Clara from Three Pines.
It becomes a busman's holiday when one of the daughters is found dead under a newly installed memorial statue of her father.
There is a much deeper layer to Ms. Penny's books than the normal mystery--one that makes you think and then question those thoughts; to look at things in a new way and see them differently. Ms. Penny employs incredible imagery as well as poetry interspersed through the story, and wonderful humor.
Characters are another great strength of Ms. Perry. Gamache is a man of many layers. We learn much more of his personal history. I love his relationship to his wife and his investigative team. The members of his team each have their own strengths and perspectives with the cumulative result of solving their cases. The Finney family members and hotel employees are just as well drawn. Each character is significant to the story.
Ms. Penny also includes a bit of history of Quebec with an interesting perspective on the success of the Quebecois in the 1960 and that many of the young people left Quebec as they didn't speak French and found it difficult to get work. "They lost their children for the sake of a language." None of this overshadows the quality of the mystery itself.
It is tightly plotted, intricate and clever with some excellent suspense. The clues are all there to be found, but I didn't put it together until it was presented. Ms. Penny is highly skilled in bringing together all these elements into one enormously enjoyable and satisfying read.
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30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"We're all blessed and we're all blighted.", February 20, 2009
It is summertime in Louise Penny's "A Rule Against Murder." Armand Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie, are celebrating their wedding anniversary as they do every year, in the luxurious Manoir Bellechasse, "one of the finest auberges in Quebec." Its isolated location, beautiful lakeside view, and well-tended gardens make the Manoir the perfect retreat for weary guests. Visitors to the lodge know that they will be pampered by solicitous employees who anticipate their every need, and that they will enjoy delicious meals expertly prepared by a master chef. What the Gamaches do not know is that they will be thrown together with a horribly dysfunctional family consisting of seven people: an arrogant matriarch, Irene Finney, her second husband, Bert, Irene's four children, Thomas, Julia, Peter, and Marianna, and Marianna's ten-year-old child, Bean. The Gamaches are disconcerted by the contemptuous manner in which the Finneys and Morrows treat one another.
When one of them is found killed, Armand reveals that he is Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec. He senses that the palpable tension among the Morrows and Finneys stems from long-held secrets and grudges. However, at first, Gamache and his subordinates, Inspector Jean Guy Beauvior and Agent Isabelle Lacoste, have no idea who committed the murder and why. The chief inspector is a civilized and caring person with a keen understanding of how the criminal mind works. He discerns subtle clues and feelings that less talented investigators often overlook. This time, unfortunately, even Gamache is flabbergasted by a strange crime with very little evidence and a group of suspects, all of whom had motive, means, and opportunity to commit murder. He desperately searches for answers before another life is lost.
"A Rule Against Murder" is at its best when Gamache, a natural leader with a sterling reputation, takes center stage. He and his colleagues interview the staff and guests at the Manoir, trying to find out who might have benefited from the victim's demise. We gradually get a picture of a family divided, each nursing petty resentments and slights that should have been laid to rest long ago. Penny skillfully contrasts this bickering bunch with Armand and Reine-Marie, soul mates who have been blissfully married for over thirty years.
This is a conventional story with a few strange twists. All of the principal characters are under one roof, so at least the police have a focus for their inquiries. Finding the perpetrator, however, will require both imagination and luck. Unfortunately, the reader is forced to spend too much time with a bunch of mean-spirited, selfish, and spiteful individuals who behave like spoiled brats. Peter candidly admits to his friend, Armand, whom he knows well from their hometown, Three Pines, "We're a greedy family, Gamache. Greedy, and even cruel." In addition, the improbable and melodramatic conclusion is not particularly suspenseful or compelling. "A Rule Against Murder" is a talky and languidly paced mystery that explores the ways in which men and women lash out at those who have hurt them.
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