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.

Having purchased "Bury Your Dead" as a special offer, I realised that it was actually the latest in a series. I'd enjoyed this exciting, twisting, beautifully written book so much that I wanted to read the rest.
Reading them from "Still Life" and finishing with a reread of "Bury Your Dead" I have been breathing the Canadian air through all the seasons.
The amazing beauty of Canadian forests, settlements and cities are the backdrop to the investigations of detectives Gamache and Beauvoir.
Each book has its own plot and place, from the Plains of Abraham in old Quebec to an exclusive hotel in the wilderness, but the connecting thread is the Three Pines community.
In Three Pines Louise Penny has created a group of real people. Each character is so well drawn and developed through the novels that I personally want to know what happens to them next.
There is humour and tragedy. The wonderful old poet Ruth, so rough and yet so gentle; artists Clara and Peter; book-shop owner Myrna; Gabri and Olivier (who seem to feed everyone as they come together each day in the Bistro!) ... all seem to have been hurt or damaged in some way and have found healing in Three Pines.
Overlaying this delicately created background, Louise Penny has then taken us on a thrilling tightly-interwoven mystery of murder or espionage and, in some stories, both!
Betrayal, revenge, greed, prejudice, ancient history, deadly-politics and beneath it all a loyalty and hope that survives throughout.
These books are so well written that a second read is an added bonus!
I'm looking forward to the next instalment.
Why is it so difficult to find Louise Penny's books in England?
In the large book chains in the North of England I could only find two of her novels.
Then I remembered Amazon and have managed to get the rest of the series. Thank You Amazon!!

I was introduced to Louise Penny's books with this one and have bought every other one I can get my hands on. They are absolute musts for all lovers of the traditional mystery story - the hero, Inspector Gamache, is an all too human, sensitive and wise detective in the Maigret tradition. The settings, reminiscent of Midsommer Murders with a touch of Agatha Christie. The style, the multiple characters, each with a sub-story of their own........ What can I say but absolute Magic. In fact, I find myself reading her books much more slowly than I do with other authors' works, savouring every page with absolute delight. Please give us more!