A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

I’ve become quite taken with the writing of Louise Penny, this being the third novel of hers that I’ve read in the last five weeks. She provides a classic crime novel. A Fatal Grace is another one of the Chief Inspector Gamache series based in Montreal and the nearby village of Three Pines. The character development and character interplay is what is most enjoyable about this novel, and her writing in general. In this story, the wicked CC de Poitiers is murdered in plain view of the townspeople during a curling tournament, and no one can figure how it could have been done without anyone seeing it happen. Of course her husband is immediately suspected, but the mealy-mouthed and mercilessly henpecked husband hardly seems capable of pulling off such an event. De Poitiers is found particularly despicable with regard to her horrible treatment of her 12-year-old daughter, terribly named Crie, a pathetic and obese kid who obviously has lots of redeeming qualities. The author weaves a second murder into the story and the intertwining of those events is most curious. Penny presents the usual cast of characters from the village, some of the most notable being the drunken Ruth Zardo, a nationally recognized poet, and Billy Williams, a crazy man from Three Pines who Gamache can’t understand the meaning of his nonsensical words, although other seem to be able to do so. She even re-introduces Agent Yvette Nichol who had a disastrous introduction to Gamache in the last book, and I thought we’d never hear from her again. The story lines support the convoluted end as Gamache works his way through the list of murder suspects. The end is a surprise, and my next move will be to download the next book in the series.