The fourth Armand Gamache book takes place at the Manoir Bellechasse rather than in Three Pines.

Armand and his wife Reine-Marie are staying at the exclusive resort to celebrate their wedding anniversary. The other guests are the Finney family; they have gathered for a family reunion. As expected, one of the Finneys is killed so Gamache and his team investigate. The story has the feel of a locked-room mystery because the murderer is certainly one of the guests or staff. What is particularly unusual is the method used to kill; it is even more of a mystery than the identity and motive of the killer.

In some ways it was a relief to have the book set outside of Three Pines because after the first three books, it felt like Cabot Cove. For those missing the idyllic village, there is a visit where some of the residents make an appearance. Clara and Peter Morrow once again are central figures. The character of Peter has always troubled me to some extent, especially his jealousy, and this book does go a long way to explaining the reasons for his personality.

There is a truly dysfunctional family in this book. There is little to like about the Finneys; they are totally obnoxious, always making nasty comments to each other. They hold grudges and resentments. Behaviours that they adopted as children, as they competed for their father’s love and attention, continue into adulthood. There are some attempts to show some positive qualities, but I found them unconvincing. A loving father would be angry with his daughter when some graffiti defames and degrades her? Why wouldn’t Irene Finney tell her adult children about her chronic pain that made even touch painful? Surely saying something loving wouldn’t increase that pain? And Marianne Finney is so intelligent and creative and successful, but names her child Bean so a grandmother won’t know her grandchild’s gender?

There are other weak justifications for behaviour. The killer’s motive is unconvincing since the victim is totally innocent and merely an expedient scapegoat. And the method of murder takes days to execute so is it supposed to be a premeditated crime or a crime of passion? And as in A Fatal Grace, there are so many variables that the killer could not control (like ensuring that the victim would be in a particular spot during a storm) so had to have a great deal of luck.

Readers of Penny’s novels will find it easy to find the usual Penny touches. There’s the detailed description of food, an overweight character, and the Agatha Christie gathering at the end. I did find the tea party before the killer is taken into custody a bit over-the-top. Gamache, again, is almost sanctified. The climactic scene which also equates him as a Burgher of Calais willing to sacrifice himself for others is a bit much. Attempts to give him flaws are weak because he always recognizes and admits his errors.

Everything – except Bean’s gender – is tied up nicely at the end. Since this book explains much about Peter Morrow, I am wondering whether further books in the series will delve into the backstories of other Three Pines characters. I think other village residents probably have interesting histories as well.

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this is my second Gamache, find them a bit too cozy. Method of murder was clever and original ( )

Excellent mystery. KIRKUS REVIEWChief Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie?s annual celebration of their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse is rudely disturbed by murder.Bellechasse, that resplendent former home of Robber Barons, is a legendary log lodge located on a lake close to the Qu?b?cois village of Three Pines, home to the Gamaches? artist friends Peter and Clara Morrow. The Gamaches? fellow guests, all relatives of Peter and Clara, include the chilly Morrow matriarch, now Mrs. Finney; her oldest son Tom and his constantly carping wife; her lovely daughter Julia, who?s serving her financier husband with divorce papers in jail; and her ragtag daughter Marianna and her androgynous child Bean. As at all the best family reunions, the relatives, who rarely speak to each other, break their silence only to hurl words like knives. Their relations grow even chillier when Julia is crushed by a recently placed statue of her father and Gamache and his team call it murder. In a case reminiscent of classic Christie, sagacious, intuitive, patient Gamache finds the family and staff the only suspects, but they?re more than enough. Digging into the family?s background reveals many petty secrets, some nasty. Meantime, sated perhaps with attacks on each other, the Morrows turn on Gamache when they discover his father railed against World War II and became a conscientious objector.This latest treat in the series (The Cruelest Month, 2008, etc.) will keep fans salivating in anticipation, savoring each delectable morsel and yearning for more.

(2009) The Gamaches are on vacation at a lake resort as are the Morrows. They are a dysfunctional family having a reunion when one of them is murdered when a statue of the patriarch falls on her. The team is brought in to investigate as they try to figure out who, why and more importantly how the deed was done. There is no indication that the statue could have been forced off of its pedestal. Turns out that the woman was killed by the hotel's maitre'd because his family was financially ruined by the woman's husband. Avery good installment in the series. KIRKUS REVIEWChief Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie's annual celebration of their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse is rudely disturbed by murder.Bellechasse, that resplendent former home of Robber Barons, is a legendary log lodge located on a lake close to the Qu?b?cois village of Three Pines, home to the Gamaches' artist friends Peter and Clara Morrow. The Gamaches' fellow guests, all relatives of Peter and Clara, include the chilly Morrow matriarch, now Mrs. Finney; her oldest son Tom and his constantly carping wife; her lovely daughter Julia, who's serving her financier husband with divorce papers in jail; and her ragtag daughter Marianna and her androgynous child Bean. As at all the best family reunions, the relatives, who rarely speak to each other, break their silence only to hurl words like knives. Their relations grow even chillier when Julia is crushed by a recently placed statue of her father and Gamache and his team call it murder. In a case reminiscent of classic Christie, sagacious, intuitive, patient Gamache finds the family and staff the only suspects, but they're more than enough. Digging into the family's background reveals many petty secrets, some nasty. Meantime, sated perhaps with attacks on each other, the Morrows turn on Gamache when they discover his father railed against World War II and became a conscientious objector.This latest treat in the series (The Cruelest Month, 2008, etc.) will keep fans salivating in anticipation, savoring each delectable morsel and yearning for more.Pub Date: Jan. 5th, 2009ISBN: 978-0-312-37702-1Page count: 320ppPublisher: MinotaurReview Posted Online: May 20th, 2010Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15th, 2008

I won my copy of this book free through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. I had not read any other books by this author prior to reading this book.

This was a fun, and somewhat interesting murder mystery, with emphasis on the psychological, more than the forensic aspects of murder. I enjoyed it, but I was not as thrilled as I would have hoped. The story promised more than it could deliver.

For the first half of the novel, readers unfamiliar with the series might not catch on that Gamache is in fact a high-ranking detective in the Canadian law enforcement system. Actually, after reading this book, I am still feeling pretty vague and under-informed about the Canadian criminal investigation and legal systems. If you like procedural crime novels, this may be a frustrating series for you. Also, there is not much background provided in this book for readers new to the series, so the series main characters come across as flat and unfinished, I am guessing because they are developed more in other books. I found some of the dialogue hard to follow as a result, since without knowing the characters, I could not always work out who would be saying which lines. I'd hope that future books in this series get more editing attention on fleshing out recurring characters and clarifying dialogue.
The mystery centers around an impossible murder, in which there are many possible suspects, but where it is unclear till the very end how anyone could physically have carried out the murder. Most of the key clues are magically produced right at the end, so all the reader has access to through out the story is psychological information about the suspects. The central family whines about how mean and nasty they all are to each other, but they seem pretty normal to me, a bit hung up on the notion of their dysfunctionality, but not creepy or murderous. The killer doesn't come across as at all angry or calculating, or in any way involved, right till the end when the Inspector works out who the murderer is. Maybe these characters are more dramatically interesting and consistent with the narrative in the author's head and they got watered down when translated to paper.

In any case, while this is not my favorite contemporary crime/murder mystery series so far, it was still fun, and I enjoyed the French phrases and Canadian setting as a nice change from my usual US/UK mystery diet. ( )