Still Life by Louise Penny

 

Still Life by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I keep seeing Louise Penny books popping up on the "Best of..." lists, but had never read any. I loved this book. I loved the quirky characters and town. I also loved Inspector Gamache and his humanity. This is a series I will return to.

In this first book of the series we meet Inspector Gamache, a legend among the police in Quebec.  He is sent to solve a murder in a small town, not on any maps.  Of course, it will be populated with quirky characters who need to escape or are hiding secrets.  Meeting these people and discovering their secrets is half the fun of solving the mystery.  Since the book is set in Quebec we are also treated to French Canadian sensibilities and plenty of French phrases.  It added to the coziness of the setting.

It was so refreshing to read a mystery without an unreliable narrator.  I think that's been too overdone.  I feel a bit like we've lost enough trust in others in our "real" lives, that I don't think we need to fill our reading life with mistrust also.

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