Tag: Canadian mystery

New and upcoming mystery titles!

- Michelle Leave a comment

An exciting fall of new mystery releases is almost upon us!  There are some additions to some series favorites and some debuts as well.  Visit our website for a full list of reading recommendations, including the newest titles on our shelves.

 

What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley  Bradley’s young crime solving heroine, Flavia de Luce, is back after a five year hiatus!  Flavia still resides in the cozy British village of Bishop’s Lacey and now eight years after the end of World War II, the village still feels the effects and is trying to return to normalcy.  In this 11th book in the series, Flavia has inheirited Buckshaw, the family estate, after the death of her father.  She is also responsible for her younger sidekick and cousin, Ondine, who returns from an earlier book.  In this installment, the two investigate the death of fellow villager Major Greyleigh, while trying to defend one of their own. Buckshaw’s longtime staff is family to Flavia and have worked for the de Luce family for decades, including beloved chef, Mrs. Mullet who is accused of poisoning Major Greyleigh.  With Flavia’s aptitude for chemistry and her clever insight into the characters in her village, it is good to have Flavia back solving the crimes of the English Countryside!

 

The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt  Book 30 in the Andy Carpenter series, finds the lawyer back at home in New Jersey after a restful week of vacation.   On his return (alongside his three pups), Andy finds a dog waiting patiently at his door.  He recognizes his former foster dog, Murphy, and can’t understand how Murphy made it back to his door after being adopted by BJ and his mother.  Upon returning Murphy to his rightful owner, he finds the new adoptee family in shambles, with BJ’s mother telling the tale that her son has been arrested for murder and Murphy ran out the door during the arrest.  Andy takes on the case and hopes to prove BJ innocent and reunite him and his dog.

 

 

The Grey Wolf  by Louise Penny In Louise Penny’s 19th book in the Armand Gamache series, The Grey Wolf opens with Chief Inspector Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie relaxing at home in their quaint village of Three Pines.  Their quiet morning is quickly shattered by a phone call that changes everything.  Strange events occur, including a cryptic note that contains a list.  This note, along with other curiosities, point Gamache and his team toward a frightening realization.  They chase the threat across the country and know if they fail it will have catastrophic consequences.

 

 

Killing Time by M. C. Beaton Clever and quirky Agatha Raisin is back in Killing Time, the 35th book of the series.  This time Agatha’s detective agency takes on a string of burglaries in the serene English Cotswolds.  Things take a sinister turn when the burglars violently kill someone during their heists.  Now, finding the culprits is more important than ever.  At exactly the same time, Agatha’s sometimes paramour, Sir Charles Fraith has asked her to help with an extravagant soiree on his estate.  Whe Agatha and her fellow private eyes are targeted and she barely escapes a kidnapping attempt, heading for a tropical vacation seems like the perfect solution.  Freshly reinvigorated, Agatha heads back to the Cotswolds to find a killer!

 

 

A Messy Murder by Simon Brett Ellen Curtis has seen it all as a professional declutterer.  Throughout her career, she has helped hundreds clear out their messes and, at times, found more than she has bargained for – including finding clients who have met suspicious deaths!  In this book, the fourth in the Decluttering Mystery series, Ellen’s latest job is assisting an aging former British TV star, Humphrey Carter, and his years of memorabilia and other rubbish that has accumulated in his home.  On the day Ellen is set to begin, she arrives to find Humphrey deceased!  His wife insists that he would not take his own life and it must be murder.  Unsure, Ellen investigates and finds many enemies of Humphrey.  Was one suspect angry enough to kill or did he take his own life?

 

 

Brew Unto Others by Sandra Balzo Uncommon Grounds owner Maggy gets involved with family drama in the latest Maggy Thorsen mystery, Brew Unto Others.  Maggy’s business partner Sarah has just lost her mother and right after the funeral, Sarah’s sister, Ruth, is found unconscious in her mother’s home.  Signs point to Ruth being  poisoned by carbon monoxide are crystal clear. Was this an accident or did someone intentionally tamper inside the home?    Ruth seemed adamant about burying their mother quickly.  Was there more to this than meets the eye?  Maggy is called upon to help and she has just scratched the surface of the family’s secrets.

 

 

A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

- Ann Leave a comment

Are you a Louise Penny fan? There are a lot of us, but in case you haven’t read any books by this amazing mystery writer, here is a push to get you started!  Set in Canada, her Three Pines mysteries are complex, intelligent and thoughtful with appealing characters (especially the main character Chief Inspector Gamache) and tense scenarios. You can start with any in the series, but the characters and relationships develop over the course of the novels. I would recommend starting with any in the series and then, when you realize you must read them all, start from the first one (Still Life)

The newest, A World of Curiosities is the 18th in the series and, like the previous ones, is highly recommended. From the publisher:

It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators’ lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines.

Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt them beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered and are now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny (audiobook version)

- Michelle Leave a comment

Every year in the late summer or early fall, I anxiously anticipate a new mystery by Louise Penny in her continuing Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series set in Three Pines, a small village in Quebec.  The fourteenth book in the series is Kingdom of the Blind and it is clear that Penny’s writing is as strong as ever.  I usually listen to the audiobook version of Penny’s books.  The narrator is Robert Bathurst, a former character on Downton Abbey (Edith’s suitor Sir Anthony Strallan) and his voice brings the Canadian inspector alive.  If you are new to the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, start with Louise Penny’s first book, Still Life.

The book begins with Armand Gamache, the former head of the Surete du Quebec,  who is waiting to hear the verdict concerning his botched drug raid, which was a complete disaster.  As the case hangs over his head, the drugs that eluded his squad begins to snake through the streets of Montreal with deadly precision.  Gamache also learns of the betrayal of one of his “second chance” recruits, who has slipped back into addiction.

While waiting for the internal investigation to end, Gamache, along with friend and Three Pines resident Myrna Landers, have learned that they been named as executors of a woman’s estate whom neither of them know, along with third man who is a stranger to them.   Why would this woman, who referred to herself as “The Baroness” appoint Gamache and Myrna as two executors when she was an outsider to their close-knit group in Three Pines?

After one of her beneficiaries is found dead in The Baroness’ dilapidated former home, Gamache is determined to find out more about the self-proclaimed royal and her family secrets.  The case of the Baroness runs parallels with Gamache’s fate in the drug raid and its consequences.  But, the Baroness is not the only one with secrets.  Gamache has secrets of his own that will be revealed when all the pieces fit neatly into place.

 

 

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny

- Michelle Leave a comment

Award winning mystery writer Louise Penny is back with her eighth book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series.  The Beautiful Mystery is a bit of a departure (as far as the location) from her previous books, but it just as captivating and engrossing as her previous titles.  I hold a soft spot for Three Pines, the quaint and picturesque village where the previous books are located, and even though I was a little leery of the new setting, it is definitely another superb mystery.  The book takes place in a remote Quebec monastery where 24 monks live in complete isolation and silence.  Ironically, the rest of the world has just discovered this group through their voices and a recording of their haunting and beautiful chants that have been released to the world with rave reviews.

The Beautiful Mystery opens with the shocking murder of one of the monks, Frere Matthieu, the choirmaster of the group.  Matthieu has been a champion of releasing the chants to the world in order to raise much needed funds for improvements to the monastery. Chief Inspector Gamache and his right hand man, Jean-Guy Beauvior arrive on the scene to interrogate and question the monks, attempting to piece together the puzzle of which of the remaining monks could possibly commit murder.  In addition to solving the crime at the monastery, Gamache and Beauvoir confront personal issues and demons that could have the ability to tear apart their own lives.

The Beautiful Mystery is intriguing enough on its own but if you want to start with the first book in the series pick up Still Life.

 

Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

- Michelle 1 Comment

Mystery writer and four-time Agatha Award winner Louise Penny’s seventh book in the Inspector Armand Gamache series, A Trick of the Light, may just be her best yet.  The book follows the same quirky cast of characters who reside in the sleepy village of Three Pines near Montreal, Canada.  Artist and longtime resident Clara Morrow has just reached the pinnacle of her artistic career, a solo exhibition at the Modern Art Museum in Montreal.  The morning after the opening celebration, as Clara is relishing in her triumph, her closest childhood friend, Lillian Dyson, is found strangled in Clara’s serene garden and Clara quickly becomes the prime suspect.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Surete du Quebec, and his team are called in to investigate the murder, which has become even more complicated as the Inspector is surrounded by the residents of Three Pines, many who have become friendly with him and his team over the years.  Gamache soon discovers that Clara and Lillian had become estranged after a falling out decades earlier, which moves the investigation in a new direction.  In addition to the murder of Lillian, the story gives the reader a glimpse into the competitive art world and the story is peppered with artists, art critics and museum curators.  Gamache soon learns the true nature of the art world, a place where the competition between enemies and friends can lead to murder.

New to Louise Penny’s mysteries?  Start with the first book in the series, Still Life, which is also a must read and introduces all the residents of Three Pines!