Still Life – Cannonball Read 17

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Still Life (Armand Gamache #1) by Louise Penny

August 16, 2024 by Zirza 2 Comments

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called out to the town of Three Pines, where artist and beloved local icon Jane Neal has been found dead. At first this appears to be a hunting accident; Neal has been shot with an arrow in the middle of the woods. But all is not what it appears, and soon Gamache is trying to decipher who, in this tight-knit and small community could’ve killed Neal. I’m not much of a fan of the whole cozy genre, and I didn’t […]

Stars Hollow meets the detective novel

Still Life by Louise Penny

October 24, 2019 by Wanderlustful Leave a Comment

Still Life is the first Inspector Gamache novel in Louise Penny’s series, and for me it’s a backtrack- I started with the second novel, Dead Cold (alternate title: A Fatal Grace), back in February. Still Life introduces us to all the main characters that show up in the later books, including the town of Three Pines and its close-knit community members. (For such a quaint and friendly town, I get the feeling there are a lot murderers in Three Pines’ midst, if the length of […]

Great artists put a lot of themselves into their works.

Still Life by Louise Penny

September 9, 2019 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

This is the first novel by Louise Penny, a Canadian mystery writer, and this series was recommended to me by my school librarian by way of a conversation looking for books to supplement my craving for more writers like Tana French and Robert Galbraith. For the most part, I think this book is close, but I am hoping that some of the later books in the series took a little longer to develop the world around the plot/mystery. We are in a small village in […]

If You Go Down In The Woods Today You’re Sure of a Big Surprise…

Still Life by Louise Penny

March 4, 2019 by lumenatrix 2 Comments

I added Still Life to my library queue after hearing another Cannonballer mention it I think in the CBR Facebook thread. This is one of the best parts of the CBR, I find so many great books I would never have found on my own. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is a man who has found his place in the world. He is one of the best CIs on the force, but he is past the time when promotions and big commendations are coming along, partially […]

A Portrait with Surprising Depths

May 7, 2018 by Jen K 4 Comments

With fourteen books so far to the series, it’s not surprising that I feel like I have heard the Chief Inspector Gamache novels come up a bit. As the first novel in the series, I fully expected this to be a mediocre to decent novel, the usual first effort of a series where the author shows glimpses of the brilliance to come while also still finding her feet. As a result, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I liked this novel! First off, […]

A cozy but emotionally hefty mystery.

December 30, 2017 by narfna 4 Comments

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec is not your typical literary detective. He’s functional. He’s kind. He loves and respects his wife, with whom he has a long and trusting relationship. He is still surprised by the violent crimes it’s his job to investigate. He has no tragic backstory or substance abuse issues. He isn’t a genius. And yet he is still good at his job! (I say all this tongue in cheek; I love all those tropes when they are deployed […]

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