An Excellent Mystery: Still Life

I'm always enamored of the covers of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series, but when you have a to-read list as long as mine, it can take forever just to get a series started. I finally did, with Still Life, and right aftewards (which was less than 24 hours, mind you), I was kicking myself for not giving in to that alluring cover image sooner.

Inspector Gamache is a solid inspector. I like his personality and how he dealt with his underlings. But he wasn't the star of this story. The mystery itself was superlative, dealing with the mysterious death of an elderly and beloved member of the community shortly after she opens her home to her friends for the first time, and submits her very secretive artwork to be publicly displayed.

I have a soft spot for stories that organically weave the visual arts into their tales, and this was a top-notch iteration of that. When we finally get to see the images the woman has been painting, the reaction of the characters, and by extension the reader, is visceral. You know something of the utmost importance is hidden there, but you don't know what. And it's an absolute pleasure finding out. It reminded me very much of way this storyline works in Profundo Rosso, Dario Argento's greatest work of mystery/horror/thriller cinema. I was at the edge of my seat with this book.

What I absolutely appreciated was that the investigation takes places through the eyes of multiple characters - not just Gamache and his officers, which was definitely exciting and showcased both Gamache's skill as a detective and Penny's keen ability to write flawed, human, believable characters, but also through the townsfolk itself. They are on a path to discovery as to what has happened in their sleepy little town as much as the investigators are. That's not something you see every day, and it was extremely satisfying, pulling the plot and all of the characters together rather than treating them as standing on different sides of the fence, which is what you get out of most procedurals.

I will be back for more soon. Very, very soon.

K. Rating: 5/5

Look carefully.