I love mysteries, but many of the readers in my church book club apparently do not, as they were largely dismayed to have to read this one. Thus I spared them my Golden Age of Crime Fiction powerpoint presentation that I put together for my Sherlock Holmes and Friends seminar last semester. The blurb on the back of Louise Penny’s book intriguingly suggests that the author breaks some of the key rules of the Golden Age, but I can tell you that she does not use twins, a Chinese villain, or the supernatural.
I liked this book a lot, despite the very slow wind-up to a suspicious death (I think it finally occurred around p. 70?). I learned a lot about the tensions between Anglos and French-speaking Quebecois. The writing is lovely; the characterizations are rich enough to linger over, even if they are not always believable (really, what 10 year old kid can successfully hide whether they are a girl or a boy from their extended family?). I’d read more Penny if I didn’t already have a long list of books in my TBR pile.
