Hearts Unbroken: 11/02/20

Dead Cold by Louise Penny is the second of the Three Pines mysteries (aka the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series). It has also been published as A Fatal Grace. It's Days before Christmas and CI Armand Gamache has two murders to investigate. One is in Montreal: a homeless woman, and the other is a self published life coach in Three Pines.

First and foremost, the residents of Pine Cove remain despicable. They are horrible, selfish, nasty people. They share that feature with the folks of Midsomer County. And yet the mystery is a good balance between compelling puzzle and obvious clues.

Fortunately Armand Gamache hasn't been described at being especially analytical or above average at solving puzzles. There's no reference to "little grey cells" or similar. Which is good because from a reader's point of view, the clues were blatantly obvious, especially the ones connecting the dead woman in Montreal to the dead woman in Three Pines.

The third book is The Cruelest Month (2007).

Four stars

Comments (0)