“What killed people wasn’t a bullet, a blade, a fist to the face. What killed people was a feeling. Left too long. Sometimes in the cold, frozen. Sometimes buried and fetid. And sometimes on the shores of a lake, isolated. Left to grow old, and odd.”
When I went looking for Louise Penny‘s lastest thriller, Bury Your Dead, after reading so much praise about it on so many blogs, the only work I could find from her at our prize winning library was A Rule Against Murder. But, I’m not disappointed.
For one thing, how lovely it is to relax into a novel. Not struggle for every nuance. Not analyze every symbol. Not decipher every tangled sentence the author wrote to impress the reader with his skill. It is exactly what I’ve needed right after Christmas, right after returning to the zoo we call school.
For another, what a lovely genre Mystery is. I’d forgotten how much I love a good whodunit. Maybe not the highest of intellectual endeavors, I will still fall back on a good mystery any day of the week. Especially one with the gentle and wise Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.
Glad you enjoyed this one. I urge you to read the next two in order. BURY YOUR DEAD would not be near the book it is without A BRUTAL TELLING, the book that comes just before it.
LikeLike
I'm just starting a new mystery series tonight too..Maisie Dobbs, about a young woman who becomes a detective in London in the wake of WWI. Sometimes a good book to get lost in is just the ticket.
LikeLike
Kay, thanks for the great advice! I'm glad you told me about A Brutal Telling needing to be read first, or I would have gone straight to Bury Your Dead. As I tried to do before I checked out A Rule Against Murder.Becca, I got the Maisie Dobbs for a friend of mine who had eye surgery and needed to listen to good audio books. She loves books from war eras, and she said they were great. I haven't read any Maisie yet myself, though.
LikeLike
Agreed, I find relaxing books are the best when I'm busy or stressed. And sometimes I need a nice relaxing read after reading something more challenging.
LikeLike
I felt that way about the Agatha Christie book I read in December, although I burned out so thoroughly on mysteries, over a decade ago, that I don't think I'll ever go back to reading them regularly.
LikeLike
No, I can't see reading them regularly myself. They're just a refreshing change for those hectic moments of life. When one has a student teacher and 26 post-Christmas children.
LikeLike
It's been a while since I've read a good mystery, but I certainly enjoy a good one, and hope to read some this year. When life has been stressful, something less-so on the reading side is always good!
LikeLike
I just discovered her this past fall, and I can't think of a mystery series that was easier and more pleasurablel to sink into. I think you've captured it exactly…sometimes we need to read for pure pleasure and enjoyment — in whatever genre that accomplishes that for us. PS I like what you've done with the place! 🙂
LikeLike
Glad you found your "comfort" read after the busy holidays. I think a good, cozy mystery is definitely the way to go during the winter months.
LikeLike
I've got her first book Still Life on my shelf waiting for me:) I've been wanting to read her books for ages but I'm a bit funny about reading things in order so only got hold of her first book this year. I've heard lots of good things about her work!
LikeLike
I didn't realize it was such a series, or I would have gone in order too. This is the first novel I've read of Louise Penny's.
LikeLike
I'm actually in process with Bury Your Dead – I didn't realize it was a series so it was a little tough to get comfortable with what happened "before." So far, though, I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
LikeLike