A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny

A WORLD OF CURIOSITIES by Louise Penny is another excellent mystery novel set in the village Three Pines and featuring Armand Gamache, the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec. Tom Nolan’s Wall Street Journal review noted, “Gamache once again proves himself to be ‘a brave man in a brave country’—never more heroic than when uttering one of the ‘four statements that lead to wisdom’: ‘I’m sorry,’ ‘I was wrong,’ ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I need help.’ … This is a spooky and sometimes hair-raising book, perhaps Ms. Penny’s best.” I agree: Gamache and his associates, especially son-in-law Jean-Guy Beauvoir, are faced with the consequences of their first case together. It involved child abuse of a ten-year old boy named Sam and his thirteen-year old sister, Fiona, and the murder of their mother. Did one or both of these children commit murder? Gamache and Jean-Luc feel differently towards the two children and stay connected so the novel spans a decade or more. As the now-adult siblings arrive in Three Pines, so do multiple puzzles – the discovery of a walled-off, hidden room above the bookstore, the mysterious painting of the title, a book of spells, and possible danger to their family and friends. Once again, Penny conjures evil and readers will marvel at Gamache’s resolve. Number eighteen in the series, A WORLD OF CURIOSITIES received starred reviews from Booklist, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.