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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
The first 100 pages were really unnecessary, the next 100 were pretty good but the rest was just boring until the end. I did like the writing however so I’ll probably read another one of her books at some point!
I really enjoy the recurring characters at this point in the series but this particular story was more just really sad - just a lot of hurt people hurting people. I did enjoy learning more about Gamache's family history and the redemption he experiences regarding his father little bit in this book
Also Gamache and his wife are absolute goals
Also Gamache and his wife are absolute goals
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Meh. Better than the previous, but nowhere near as good as the first.
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another good, but not great, Louise Penny. This is the first one that takes place away from Three Pines, in a log cabin auberge. I liked the different setting and found the first quarter of the book to be a good, suspenseful buildup to the murder we all know is coming.
Gamache and his lively wife Reine-Marie have come to the auberge to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. The other guests are the snobby members of a very snobby family. The reader is surprised when Peter and Clara of Three Pines show up for the family reunion - but now we understand why poor Peter is so damaged. The family is vicious to each other, while ostensibly there to unveil a statue of their cold but beloved late father. So when murder - gasp! - strikes, it's not terribly surprising to anyone that someone would want to kill one of the family members.
While the setup of the murder was well done, I fell the middle dragged quite a bit. Some of the characters, especially Bert Finney, were quite well drawn and very intriguing. But others, such as Marianna, were unrealistic and poorly developed.
I correctly guessed the identity of the murderer early on. I prefer mysteries where I can't guess the murderer, and I felt that Penny made it fairly obvious - but maybe I'm just too genre savvy. The actual mechanics of the murder are not well explained and I felt the book ended abruptly after dragging through much of the middle.
Still, as with all the Penny mysteries, I did enjoy it and couldn't put it down. On to the next one soon!
Gamache and his lively wife Reine-Marie have come to the auberge to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. The other guests are the snobby members of a very snobby family. The reader is surprised when Peter and Clara of Three Pines show up for the family reunion - but now we understand why poor Peter is so damaged. The family is vicious to each other, while ostensibly there to unveil a statue of their cold but beloved late father. So when murder - gasp! - strikes, it's not terribly surprising to anyone that someone would want to kill one of the family members.
While the setup of the murder was well done, I fell the middle dragged quite a bit. Some of the characters, especially Bert Finney, were quite well drawn and very intriguing. But others, such as Marianna, were unrealistic and poorly developed.
I correctly guessed the identity of the murderer early on. I prefer mysteries where I can't guess the murderer, and I felt that Penny made it fairly obvious - but maybe I'm just too genre savvy. The actual mechanics of the murder are not well explained and I felt the book ended abruptly after dragging through much of the middle.
Still, as with all the Penny mysteries, I did enjoy it and couldn't put it down. On to the next one soon!
Sometimes you need a murder mystery that involves a wealthy family of eccentrics, elitists, and evaders. In this fourth installment of the Inspector Gamache series, Penny delivers just that plus some other curious characters, a deeper look into the Anglo vs French Canadian dynamic, and perhaps a tad too much symbolism. Nevertheless, we read on.
"A Rule Against Murder" wasn't set in Three Pines, but at a secluded semi-resort where Gamache and his wife are spending their anniversary. But we still get to hang out with Clara and Peter from Three Pines because they have been invited to the Manoir Bellechasse for a family reunion. We see that Peter's family is awful and bizarrely mean (but I've thought Peter is a terrible person anyway, since book 1 of the series, so this wasn't all that shocking), and of course someone ends up dead.
I liked this mystery, and I didn't guess the murderer at all, but there was a very shallow subplot that I found really quite unrealistic and I couldn't understand why Gamache or anyone else was thinking, feeling, saying, or doing any of the things they were doing. It was like this episode of the Brady Bunch I saw when I was a kid where Peter gets cast as Benedict Arnold in the school play, and all his classmates are like, "OMG you're Benedict Arnold?! Traitor!" And I was 8 years old having no idea why kids were reacting that way because no kid would ever care at all that another kid was playing a traitor in a play. Each scene with the not-emotional-at-all-but-way-over-the-top-drama of the subplot was such an eye roll for me.
I've read four Inspector Gamache books now, and while I love Gamache and Three Pines, I'm finding some things about the series and Penny's writing are starting to be a little disappointing for me. We'll see how book 5 goes!
I liked this mystery, and I didn't guess the murderer at all, but there was a very shallow subplot that I found really quite unrealistic and I couldn't understand why Gamache or anyone else was thinking, feeling, saying, or doing any of the things they were doing. It was like this episode of the Brady Bunch I saw when I was a kid where Peter gets cast as Benedict Arnold in the school play, and all his classmates are like, "OMG you're Benedict Arnold?! Traitor!" And I was 8 years old having no idea why kids were reacting that way because no kid would ever care at all that another kid was playing a traitor in a play. Each scene with the not-emotional-at-all-but-way-over-the-top-drama of the subplot was such an eye roll for me.
I've read four Inspector Gamache books now, and while I love Gamache and Three Pines, I'm finding some things about the series and Penny's writing are starting to be a little disappointing for me. We'll see how book 5 goes!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
4th in the series and not my favorite - maybe because little time is spent in Three Pines? While I think the series is wonderfully written and the characters have a lot of depth, they also seem unrealistically philosophical and literary in their speech.