I didn’t finish this one in time for Canada Day but at least the call for Canada Day reviews provided the push for me to finally read this one. It’s weird because I loved the first Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novel but haven’t felt the need to plow through it in the way that I basically binged through the Sebastian St. Cyr series. I certainly had trepidations coming into this one because narfna’s review highlighted issues that were already showing signs of developing (for me […]
“It’s our secrets that make us sick.”
This book bored and frustrated me for the first third, and then something turned and the plot and interesting character stuff got going, and my annoyances were subsumed under actual interest for the characters and story. Subsumed is a fun word to use by the way. Do they still sell Word of the Day toilet paper? I heard about that one time but never investigated further. So when I say that I was frustrated, I mean that I seriously contemplated not continuing with the series. […]
Corruption And Poison
This was an hard book to read. In keeping with the title, cruelty was on display in ways large and small. All murder mysteries contain the cruelty of murder, but this one also had the cruelties that we committ on the people we love most and the self-inflicted damage we do to ourselves. I almost quit this book. I posted in the Facebook group about the anxiety I was feeling about Gamache being set up, but it was a moment between two other characters that […]
“Love wants the best for others. Attachment takes hostages.”
Last year I double cannonballed with the second Inspector Gamache book, A Fatal Grace. It grew naturally from its predecessor, Still Life, and expanded the universe of the Sûreté du Québec and the various residents of Three Pines and its surrounding area in the Eastern Townships. Having decided that I enjoy consuming these books in the time of year in which they are set, I knew that I would be listening to The Cruelest Month this April. I can happily report I’m as happy with […]



