A World of Curiosities

Locations
Call Number: Mystery / Penny, Louise, Adult Book / Fiction / Mystery / General / Penny, Louise
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch

"Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series. 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. But something has. 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. But to what end? 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 150-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"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Outstanding submitted by Krystal on June 29, 2023, 7:25pm After so many books in the series, she still manages to surprise. She writes complicated characters and keeps me guessing until the end

timeline clash submitted by camelsamba on July 9, 2023, 3:47pm As usual, there are deeper themes that run through this story, and the people of Three Pines genuinely care for one another. But in the end, I was disappointed. For one thing, the story felt overly complex - too many pieces, too many moving parts. In addition, I felt like there were major continuity issues issues in this book relative to the overall series. Consider the old case that appears in flashbacks, where Gamache and Jean-Guy first work together. It happened over 20 years ago, but there is a mention that the victim has "no phone on her" and then "her children found it at her home but don't know the password.” (Did we even have passwords on our phones 20 years ago?) And then Gamache uses what must be a cell phone -not a police car radio - to call the local police office at one point. And later Jean-Guy is supposedly checking his email while waiting for Gamache. This reliance on smart phones doesn't fit the timeline and previous history of these books. Remember how the whole crew (Sûreté and Twin Pines residents) didn't even have smart phones for the longest time? Incidents like this kept pulling me out of the story, as did various details in the current timeline (eg both Fiona and Myrna’s niece are supposedly regular visitors to Three Pines but neither one has ever been mentioned before?).

Always interesting details submitted by rowleygray on July 29, 2023, 7:26am The characters. The food. The art. The literature. The place. So much to think about as I read a great story!