A review by bookish1ifedeb
The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

4.0

Following the events of book #9, we find a now-retired Armand Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie, living in the village of Three Pines. Gamache is still contending with his internal demons when good friend Clara Morrow, newly successful artist, lays a problem before him: her husband Peter, from whom she separated over a year ago, was supposed to come home on that one-year anniversary. He never arrived, and she has not heard from him. She invites Gamache to help her find him, so they can both move forward, together or separately.
Gamache reluctantly agrees to help. But between Clara's demand that she lead and he follow, and Peter's own peripatetic travels over the past year, Gamache and his son-in-law Jean-Guy struggle a bit over what their role is supposed to be, even as they become more concerned about where their investigations are leading. And as so often happens with Penny's novels, murder becomes a possibility.
This novel will likely annoy readers seeking a page-turner. For me, the pleasures of spending time with the characters and watching them unravel clues to find Peter exceed any annoyances over the slow unfolding of the plot. There is also much discussion of art, particularly native Canadian artists and their communities and favorite locales.
Warning: the long, calm buildup does not preview the shocking resolution.