A Fatal Grace

March 12, 2007
When sadistic socialite CC de Poitiers is fatally electrocuted at a Christmas curling competition in the tiny Québecois village of Three Pines, only the arcane method of the murder is a surprise in Penny's artful but overwritten sophomore effort (after her highly praised 2006 debut, Still Life
). CC had cobbled together a spiritual guidance business based on eliminating emotion, but the feelings she inspired in others were anything but serene. Everyone around the cartoonish victim—from a daughter cowed by lifelong abuse to the local spiritual teacher whose business she threatens to ruin—has a motive, and the crime also links to a vagrant's recent murder as well as to the pasts of several beloved village residents. The calm but quirky Chief Insp. Armand Gamache, who arrives in Three Pines from Montreal to head the investigation, is appealing as the series' focus. Though Penny gorgeously evokes the smalltown Christmas mood, the novel is oddly steeped in holiday atmosphere for a May release, and the plot's dependence on lengthy backstory slows the momentum.

June 25, 2007
Penny’s newest mystery returns to Three Pines, the bucolic but hardly idyllic hamlet south of Montreal where Inspector Gamache has his hands full contending with a pair of murders including that of a spiritual and domestic diva. Veteran reader Cosham isn’t the best choice for this project, although his rich baritone voice can mesmerize listeners. The entire town plus the local office of the Sûreté de Québec is swept up in these murders, but unfortunately, the citizens all sound alike, as do Em, Kay and Mother, who are referred to as the Three Graces. Cosham’s French is perfect, if a bit formal, but he uses the language spoken in Europe, not the Québécois dialect and pronunciation that would be used by the locals. His British accent is also a bit tony for this corner of Canada and its artistic but down-to-earth inhabitants. Despite the apparent miscasting, Cosham’space makes the witty narrative frothy and irresistible, like a good café au lait. Simultaneous release with the St. Martin’s Minotaur hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 12).