A Fatal Grace: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

by Louise Penny

Book Overview

Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel!

From the Dagger award winning author Louise Penny comes the second Armand Gamache mystery set in the stunning countryside of Quebec.

Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.

No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312541163
• ISBN13: 9780312541163
• Release Date: February 2011
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Book

Good mystery

Come to Quebec

As a mystery enthusiast and recent visitor to Quebec I highly recommend this series. Penny puts us physically in the setting. We can almost feel the cold, and Three Pines is a community we would want to visit. Her characters are interesting and unique and her dialogue is engaging. The French aspect only contributes to the singular atmosphere and location of this mystery. The twists and turns of the plot will keep you guessing until the end. Read "Still Life", the first in the series, and "A Fatal Grace" and you will enthusiastically await Penny's next installment in the series.

Cautionary Tale

I read and enjoyed both of Louise Penny's previous books and was really looking forward to this "new" one. Imagine my surprise when, I discovered that it is actually Dead Cold under a different title. Apparently, the title was changed when it was published in the United States.

Excellent traditional mystery, but more

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his officers have been called back to the town of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers, an extremely unpleasant woman, has been murdered in public at the height of a curling match. Figuring out how she was killed is as much a mystery as uncovering who killed her. Penny's books are deceptive. On one hand, they seem a simple traditional mystery, set in a small town with lots of interesting, quirky characters, lots of suspects from which to choose and good twists and turns along the way. Penny does do dialogue well and her sense of place is evocative. But then there a second layer, hard to describe, but one I find makes me occasionally stop and think while reading and stays with me long after I've closed the book. Penny is one of those I can be being on my very short list of authors to re-read. Highly recommended.