Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - A Fatal Grace

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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saricostanzo's review against another edition

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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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maethereader's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

I was really enjoying this book, it was nice to return to three Pines and get to know the characters in town more deeply. but it got too dark for me at the end, and the ending just didn't really satisfy at all. Also, there's really bad fat shaming which is so disappointing.

I don't like it when characters die needlessly, and I feel like it was kind of going off in interesting places that just didn't pan out. (like the photographer… and why did he need to die?) and I felt like the reveal of who did it just didn't make sense. Why would the daughter do something so complex? And her story was just so sad.

I really love the idea of the series, having a cozy place to return to again and again with a bit of new intrigue each time. But the mystery disappointed, and the last quarter of this book just had too much darkness for me. Not to mention the fat shaming. I'm not sure if I'll be returning to Three Pines again.

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kaitlinonfire's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I really like this series and had read some out of order. I thought The Brutal Telling was phenomenal! There's a lot to like in A Fatal Grace that's a common thread in the series (small town appeal, the mystery unfolding, a motley crue of locals, lovely prose), but this one made me physically cringe and not in the way the author intende. The fat phobia is INTENSE right off the bat, from the author not just character perspectives. There some other off color comments early on that I think just didn't age well. Approach with a grain of salt.

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sparklefarm's review against another edition

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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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amandaskye's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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julied's review against another edition

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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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