Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

10 reviews

kerryamchugh's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Abandonment

passionatereader78's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Well written.  Lots of detail. If you love Mysteries you will like this series.  It's set in a small village, Three Pines in Quebec in Winter. Great book to cozy up with during fall and winter. I liked figuring out who committed the murder and why. Inspector Gamache is back solving another Murder.  An author is electrocuted at a village program and no one saw anything. Inspector Gamache and his team work together to solve the case.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, and Death

shirakotoko's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Yvette Nichol is my wife

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, and Death

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I recall that when I read Still Life, the first in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series, I didn’t get why everyone loved her books. Since then I’ve watched the Three Pines series on TV - the first two episodes are based on A Fatal Grace - and Alfred Molina makes Gamache such a warm, sad, and sympathetic character that it has changed my perception. 

Gamache and most of his team work well together and have a long history that the reader hasn’t (yet) seen. An inexperienced and, frankly, destructive member is foisted onto them, and this is part of a mysterious backstory that’s repeatedly referenced but not spelled out. I kept reading hoping to find out more, but was instead entertained by the mystery in the foreground, the murder of a villager whom everyone hated. 

Against this backdrop of tension and distrust, Gamache and his team must solve more than one murder to understand the misery in a family that’s been in Three Pines only a year or so. Seeing the interactions of the quirky villagers is the real delight here - Penny creates a whole system of friends and friendly rivals that expands with each book. We learn more and more about these characters, and about Gamache, and that’s the pleasure of these books. 

I really enjoyed this and I hope to read the first one again to see if I like it any better now than I did five years ago. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Murder, Body shaming, and Bullying

saricostanzo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

sparklefarm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

Loved the characters, loved the setting, an interesting mystery. But GOOD GOD THE FATPHOBIA WAS EGREGIOUS. Really, unforgiveable. Really no reason to call a human, let alone a child, "grotesque," unless they have committed war crimes and flouted the Geneva convention.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Death, and Emotional abuse

franklola's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Vomit

julied's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Body shaming

emably's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I tried to give this series a second shot, but I was supremely disappointed. I guessed the “twist” ending within the first couple chapters. I understand it’s a cozy mystery, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be so predictable. This was minor, though, in comparison to the horrific fatphobia rampant throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Vomit, Murder, Mental illness, Excrement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Child abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

katymaryreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I think Chief Inspector Gamache is going to rival Josephine Tey's Alan Grant as my favourite fictional detective. I love how human he is.

Wheels within wheels as Gamache's own problems run alongside the murder mystery, with a bit of a cliffie on that at the end.

The mystery itself kept me guessing, and the descriptions of Three Pines, its' inhabitants, the weather - and the food - were a treat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Body shaming, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Police brutality