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A review by carolsnotebook
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
4.0
This is the 7th of Penny’s Inspector Gamache mysteries, a series I love, so I had no choice but to read it. Listen to it actually, read by Ralph Cosham.
Reasons I liked and/or disliked this book:
While this is not my favorite in the series, I had a hard time putting it down. The characters are all so well-drawn, both the returning ones and those that will just show up in this book, I feel like I know them. I get drawn into their lives, into their feelings and thoughts, problems and loves.
Penny’s books are always about more than just the mystery. This one deals with hope and disappointment, hurt and forgiveness, relationships. There’s a depth to them that a lot of mysteries, cozy or traditional just don’t have. She understands people, that we’re each a mix of black and white and grey. No one is perfectly good or perfectly bad.
While A Trick of the Light does work better as a stand-alone than the previous, I still would rather recommend the series as a whole. It’s one of those where, yes, you can read one book without having picked up the others and be okay, but they are so much richer and fuller if you start at the beginning, see the characters change and grow, understand the couple of arcs that carry through more than one of the books. Really, if you like mysteries, traditional or cozy, give this series a try. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Reasons I liked and/or disliked this book:
While this is not my favorite in the series, I had a hard time putting it down. The characters are all so well-drawn, both the returning ones and those that will just show up in this book, I feel like I know them. I get drawn into their lives, into their feelings and thoughts, problems and loves.
Penny’s books are always about more than just the mystery. This one deals with hope and disappointment, hurt and forgiveness, relationships. There’s a depth to them that a lot of mysteries, cozy or traditional just don’t have. She understands people, that we’re each a mix of black and white and grey. No one is perfectly good or perfectly bad.
While A Trick of the Light does work better as a stand-alone than the previous, I still would rather recommend the series as a whole. It’s one of those where, yes, you can read one book without having picked up the others and be okay, but they are so much richer and fuller if you start at the beginning, see the characters change and grow, understand the couple of arcs that carry through more than one of the books. Really, if you like mysteries, traditional or cozy, give this series a try. I can’t recommend it highly enough.