Author: Louise Penny
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Series #6
Published: 2010
Personal Rating: 3.5/5 (good)
Yearly Count: 77
From the back of the ARC:
In Bury Your Dead, Penny peers deeper into the psyche of her beloved Inspector Gamache, unveiling a broken man coming to terms with his buried grief and guilt.
It is Carnival in Quebec City and Gamache has come not to join the celebration but to recover from an investigation gone wrong. But death is inescapable, even in the sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society - where an obsessive historian's quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried for nearly 400 years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it?
I adore Louise Penny's writing style. It's quiet, introspective and smart. This book, however, was extremely slow for me mainly due to the focus point of the plot - Champlain, the founder of Quebec. I simply had no interest in him; therefore, I didn't enjoy a great portion of the book.
The draw was whenever the scenes shifted to the village of The Three Pines or when a recent memory of a past investigation was remembered. So, I am among the few that were not thrilled with this latest edition to the series, but I am ever so thankful that the last quarter of the book was excellent. (Guess where most of it resided?) Unanswered questions were addressed, and it ended on a good note.
My thanks go to LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and Minotaur Books for sending me this ARC. Bury Your Dead is scheduled to be released on September 28, 2010.
I'm looking forward to reading this one, Joy. I know that she did a lot of research in Quebec City for her writing. She was working on it right after the trip to Phoenix where I got to meet her in 2009. Glad it worked for you in parts anyway. :-)
ReplyDeleteKay ~ I read in several writings by her about the extent of her research, but I just didn't share in that passion. :( I still think she's fabulous and am not concerned about future books. I have no doubt that you'll love it.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know, Joy. It's funny how some books work within a series for each of us and some not so much. I loved RULE OF MURDER, but several of my mystery book group thought it was her weakest book. And then others of them thought it was good she went outside of Three Pines because it would be hard to continue to have murders in such a small venue. Ah, the trials of the author. Good thing you and I just have the job of the reading, huh? :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm so ashamed of myself that I haven't even started this series yet, with it being Canadian and all!
ReplyDeleteI usually find in series there are always one or two books along the way that just seem off for me. Sorry, it wasn't the greatest for you.
You adore Penny? Well, that means I need to get it into gear and read the first two books because I've had #3 forever!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteKay ~ A Rule Against Murder was one of my favorites! And, oh yes, I am so glad to be the reader and not the writer! They have a tough job because we all know that we can't please everybody all the time.
ReplyDeleteNicola ~ I didn't say it - you did!!! :) :) :) I will say that you have done your fair share in reading and promoting Canadian authors/books. No shame in that!
I agree. "Off" books do happen within a series. It's just a bummer when you experience it. However, I didn't dislike this book, it was still good. I just wish it could have been better. *grin*
Staci ~ Yes I do! She writes in a very quiet style, yet incorporates some very loud characters. Figure that one out! :) I think in another post I called them "cozy mysteries with substance." Well, that's odd - I quoted myself. LOL Anyway, get movin' girl and pick up the first. Btw - the audiobooks were really good. I listened to several of them.
Joy: I really enjoyed this one, but it was also my very first Louise Penny. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get to her, but glad I finally did.
ReplyDeleteLoved her last book and looking forward to this one as well....Thanks for the review (just skimmed it as I'll be reading it soon).
ReplyDeleteVickie ~ You have some good reading ahead of you!
ReplyDeleteBibliophile By the Sea ~ This one and the one before it are my least favorites (still good though). I'm hoping for a little shift in the next one. I really do love her writing style.