Readers who enjoy murder mysteries with more suspects than one can keep track of, and with surprises in the last chapter, all love Louise Penny’s novels all featuring Chief Inspector Gamache, and all set in Quebec. My wife has read and enjoyed all of her books, and thinks that although they are rather formulaic with the same characters showing up in several stories, each can stand alone. This is the first and only one I have read, and I did so only because it is on for discussion in my book club. The characters all seemed like exaggerated caricatures to me and there are all of the usual requisite lies and false leads- and the apparently upstanding closet gays and derelicts who are not who they seem to be. I will not give away any of the plot with it’s byzantine twists. At least, unlike many of this genre, nothing was predicable far in advance.
There are at least two blatant errors that a copy-editor or the author should have picked up. First, there is the oft-repeated assertion that opioid use causes dilation of pupils. Any pharmacology or medical student knows that they universally cause pupillary constriction. And one character is said to have died by being run over by a combine being used for harvesting hay. As any eight-year old farm kid knows, a combine is used for harvesting grains, not hay.
I have no issue with the use of very foul language in novels, when it is from the mouth of a character who would be expected to use such language. But it seems far less appropriate when the author uses it in the narrative, as occasionally happens here as it seems to indicate a paucity of vocabulary when you cannot think of an alternative adjective that would be appropriate in polite company. That alone ruined several of John Irving’s novels for me.
I did not really enjoy this book, but I can understand why some readers will. Tastes differ.
The Passionate Reader 