Book Review: Still Life

Still Life

by: Louise Penny


Publication Date: First published 2005
Finished on: September 29, 2017
Publisher: Minotaur Books

Synopsis:
Still Life is the first book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series.  I will admit that the name of the series turned me off a bit.  Plus, its hard for me to want to start on a series that is so long already (13 books to date)!  But, I'm a binge reader, so I think I can do this!

Still Life (and the remainder of the books in the series) takes place in a village called Three Pines, a rural village near Montreal.  Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called to the village to investigate a recent murder.  His team quickly decides that the victim was murdered by someone she knew and everyone in the town is a suspect.  The novel slowly unwinds the complicated small-town relationships and the reader figures out who is responsible for the murder.



My review:
I recently posted on my Instagram that I wanted to start a new series, and people overwhelmingly recommended The Armand Gamache series.  I went to Amazon and ordered a used copy with the newest cover and anxiously awaited its arrival.  When it came, I was really disappointed to receive the older cover (see photo above), plus it was also ripped along the spine.  I am a bit protective of my books, so I was less than stoked to read this used and tattered copy.  I mean, the pages were even fold up inside!  Anyway, the seller refunded me, but let me keep the book and no one can turn down a free book, so I ignored my TBR list and read this first.

I still am turned off by the cover.  I looks very old fashioned and suggests a slow country read to me.  Thankfully, that is not what you get when you read it!  Yes, it takes place in a quaint and idyllic country town, but that does not mean this book is boring.  I had a difficult time getting to know the huge cast of characters (and still probably confuse some).  The French names also took me a little time to get used to, but once I got past the names and French, I was hooked.

I can honestly say that I had no idea who the murderer was until I read the name.  At one point or another, I suspected pretty much every character!  Louise Penny does an amazing job at building the characters and slowly revealing the plot to distract the reader from an early prediction.  I loved it!  I can't wait to read more from this series.  Luckily, I ordered the second book (new and not used this time), so its already waiting for me to start!

I purchased this book myself and all opinions expressed above are my own.

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