Reviews

The Cruelest Month, by Louise Penny

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taitai's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

katiehoover's review

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dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

crazygoangirl's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

The third book in the Three Pines series by Louise Penny and my favourite so far.

This book has a tauter plot and crisper writing than the previous two books. Penny’s descriptions are as wonderfully atmospheric as ever, and she captures Three Pines at Easter in minute and authentic detail. Perhaps it’s because there is now a comfortably satisfying familiarity between the characters and me, that I intuitively understand their emotions, their faults and their motivations.

The mystery as usual is fairly straightforward. I understood the killer’s motivation although once again Penny tends to over dramatise the climax! I was happy to see the Lemieux - Nichol situation resolve the way it did. Justice served but more on the way. Penny focuses on emotions & intuition as the main tools through which Gamache solves his cases. Of course there’s good, solid, investigative work by Beauvoir and Lacoste, but Gamache puts it all together by concentrating on the feelings of those involved and the conversations he has with the suspects. It’s a slower, more quiet form of investigation, but no less effective. Its grown on me throughout the series.

As I’ve mentioned before, the main draw of this series for me is the wonderfully nuanced bond that Penny creates between Gamache and Beauvoir - I adore them both ❤️

Next - A Rule Against Murder

dianelaw's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

charlottefw's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.5

kmg365's review against another edition

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3.0

I'm just going to say it.

There's too much poetry in this series. Maybe even too much of the arts in general. This is not an attitude I was expecting from myself, but after three books, I can't deny the feeling. Three Pines is a tiny village. Yet it's home to one award-winning, nationally famous poet, and now two nationally known painters (that is assuming that one plot thread ultimately happens the way I expect it to). Also a poet who desperately wants to be nationally famous, but doesn't have the talent. And a guy who makes art with dead trees.

So I guess the rule is this: In a village, you can either have the most evil house in Canada, OR you can have the highest percentage of population paid to write or paint, but you can't have both.

Those quibbles aside (with an additional quibble about all the comments from Québécois characters about how “weird” the English are), I like the series. I like the idea of a goodhearted cop who isn't afraid to put other cops behind bars. I like the touches of whimsy, like hard-as-nails Ruth Zardo and the orphaned ducklings. I really liked the weaving of Sarah Binks into the narrative-- a classic Canadian novel that I had never heard of before. I'm devastated to find that it doesn't seem to be available in audio format, because I would enjoy the heck out of a novel devoted to mocking bad poetry.

I don't think we've heard the last of the Arnot case, but I was relieved to finally get a detailed explanation, and some closure in the case of Agent Nicole's bizarre behavior. Another relief will be if Ruth's behavior in future books isn't quite so relentlessly mean, a possible outcome teased here.

Right now this series is filling the void left by the death of Marian Chesney, who previously fulfilled most of my cozy mystery needs. (I am reading the R.W. Green volumes, but he doesn't dash them out as quickly as Marian did.) I would defect to a different series if I could find one with more humor (and set in England), but I'll keep visiting Three Pines until then.