Louise Penny is a Canadian mystery writer and, according to an interview I heard on CBC, a former journalist and recovering alcoholic. This is the third of her mysteries that I've read. Each book has the Chief Inspector Gamache, his closest fellow detective, Beauvoir, plus his protegee, Isabel Lacoste. The setting for these books is Tall Pines, a small town in Quebec - one of those places like Wakefield, Quebec, with bistros, bakeries, a village green - in short, I'd love to live there. The people are all wonderful - Olivier and Gabri, a gay couple, run the B&B, Myrna has the bakery, Clara and Peter are artists, but a murder has disturbed the tranquillity of Tall Pines, and Gamache is sent to investigate and solve the crime. .
The victim in this novel was a hermit who lived in a cabin deep in the woods - no one even knew he was there until his body was found in Olivier's bistro. Gamache has to find the identity of the Hermit, a quest which takes him all the way out to the Queen Charlotte Islands, plus the identity of the killer, as well as figure out why the body was moved twice before it was discovered.
Louis Penny is obviously very intelligent, and has a good knowledge of arts, culture and food. She is also enough of a craftsman to keep you guessing all through the story. Well-written, entertaining, easy to read, no car chases or high-tech warfare - actually, rather homey and, well, Canadian!
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