Book Review: The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

Fifth in the series, Chief Inspector Gamache is called back to Three Pines to solve a murder. The book starts with Olivier Brule and the victim sitting in a log cabin, in the Quebec wilderness in front of a fire. A myth is told about Chaos and the Furies searching for the thing that was stolen. The night becomes late and Olivier soon leaves and hurries back the safety and security of Three Pines. The next morning, the man from the cabin is found dead in the bistro run by Olivier and Gabriel.
Gamache, with Inspector Beauvoir and Agent Lacoste, interview friends and suspects in Three Pines with the knowledge that one of the townspeople knew and killed the man, but no one – including Olivier - admits to knowing the victim or where he lived. Why kill him and place his body in the bistro?
Chief Inspector Gamache digs into the secrets of Three Pines. The colony of artists and their friends living in a country village seems bucolic but Three Pines has had more than their share of murder in the recent past. A deceptively peaceful setting: readers will be shocked when the killer is revealed.
If you haven’t read any books by Louise Penny, start with the first book in the series: Still Life.
For more information about Louise Penny and her books, see:
http://www.louisepenny.com/