Title: Still Life
Author: Louise Penny
Author: Louise Penny
Published: June 7, 2011
My Rating: 4 stars/5
Synopsis: The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships.
Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines – a place so free from crime it doesn’t even have its own police force. But Gamache knows that evil is lurking somewhere behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will start to give up its dark secrets…
Okay, so I know this novel is 4 years old, but I just read it for the first time and wanted to give it a short review. I purchased this novel because I was looking to get into reading more mystery novels, but had no idea where to start or which authors were good and which I would like. I just happened to be browsing the website of my local bookstore when it mentioned that Louise Penny was a international bestselling author and her books were in the mystery category. There happened to be a deal on the first three books in this series so I decided to give it a shot. If I liked it, I’d have a series to start and if I didn’t, someone would be getting mystery books for Christmas. (Just kidding..kind of). Now onto the review.
It took me a little while to get into this book, not because it was slow or I disliked it, but because I wasn’t used to the writing style. The style was different from the types of books I normally read, but not in a bad way, just different. However, I pushed through and I’m glad I did. Once I got used to the writing style, I flew through this book. The mystery was definitely a mystery and kept me guessing the whole time. I was worried while reading that I had figured it all out and it wouldn’t be as good to finish, but boy was I wrong.
The setting is in a picturesque little town called Three Pines outside of Montreal, Canada. This is a town where you know everyone and also everyone’s business. Three Pines is the type of town where no one locks their doors because they don’t see the point. This is the type of town I would love to live in because I loved the close knit feeling of Three Pines and its residents.
I enjoyed the character of Armand Gamache. Gamache is a kind and watchful Inspector. He has a penchant for helping people, not only in solving the murders of others loved ones, but also in training new recruits. He never felt to me to have a huge ego despite all that he has accomplished and I never felt him to be arrogant.
It took me a little while to get into this book, not because it was slow or I disliked it, but because I wasn’t used to the writing style. The style was different from the types of books I normally read, but not in a bad way, just different. However, I pushed through and I’m glad I did. Once I got used to the writing style, I flew through this book. The mystery was definitely a mystery and kept me guessing the whole time. I was worried while reading that I had figured it all out and it wouldn’t be as good to finish, but boy was I wrong.
The setting is in a picturesque little town called Three Pines outside of Montreal, Canada. This is a town where you know everyone and also everyone’s business. Three Pines is the type of town where no one locks their doors because they don’t see the point. This is the type of town I would love to live in because I loved the close knit feeling of Three Pines and its residents.
I enjoyed the character of Armand Gamache. Gamache is a kind and watchful Inspector. He has a penchant for helping people, not only in solving the murders of others loved ones, but also in training new recruits. He never felt to me to have a huge ego despite all that he has accomplished and I never felt him to be arrogant.
So overall this book is definitely going in the vault and I’m very happy that I now have some mystery novels to read!
