Louise Penny Launches a New Book

 Louise Writes: :This is it! August. The month THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY finally sees the light of day. Well over a year in the planning, thinking, researching, and then, the writing. And so much anticipation. I sometimes feel I'm going to explode from excitement/anxiety.

As you know, that simply goes with the territory. I suspect you often feel the same way, when something, or someone, you care about is about to be exposed to the public. I think anxiety isn't so much a mark of insecurity, as a reflection of how much we care.
I care a great deal about THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY. I can hardly wait for it to get into your hands. It hits bookstores, and kindles/nooks/ereaders/iPads on August 28th in the US, Canada and the UK. "

Louise Penny Fans - Get Ready.

The countdown begins in earnest now. Less than two months before the launch of THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY. This is the eighth Chief Inspector Gamache crime novel, and it comes out in the US, Britain and Canada on August 28th. THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY has been named one of Publishers Weekly top summer reads (before even being published!), and has already earned two starred pre-pub reviews. To read the review in Publishers Weekly and to learn about the audio book, click here.

Good list for Mystery Buffs

Louise Penny's novel, A trick of Light,  has been nominated for The Independent Mystery Booksellers' Association Award along with the following books.  This makes a great list for those of us who read and love crime fiction.

Faithful Place, Tana French
Wicked Autumn, G.M. Malliet
Tag Man, Archer Mayor
A Trick of the Light, Louise Penny
Ghost Hero, S.J. Rozan

Louise also made the short list for the Indie award, books that were nominated by on-line bloggers as the best mystery novels.  Again, the list  below provides some good suggestions.

Missing Daughter, Shattered Family by Liz Strange (MLR Press)
The Cut by George Pelecanos (Reagan Arthur/LIttle, Brown)
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (St. Martin’s Press)
The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey (Dutton)
Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown)

Or you could jsut go out and get Louise's Trick of Light, a novel I enjoyed very much.

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

by Joan Baril

A long time ago, in another lifetime, I was a military wife living at Camp Valcartier military base outside Quebec City.  My biggest problem in a francophone milieu was the difficulty finding reading material in English but my sanity was saved by a fellow military wife, Margaret Wylie, who told me about a private Anglophone library in Quebec City called The Literary and Historical Society and suggested I join. 

Louise Penny has made the Literary and Historical Society library the centrepiece of her mystery novel, Bury Your Dead.  Her detective hero, Inspector Gamache, becomes involved when a dead body is found in the sub basement of the historical building, a body which leads him into the labyrinths of Quebec history.

Louise Penny wins the Arthur Ellis

Louise Penny, former Thunder Bayer wins the Arthur Ellis crime writing prize for her latest Bury Your Dead.  The Crime Writers of Canada award celebrates crime writing excellence. Stevie Cameron won for her non fiction work for On the Farm her second book abouit serial killer Robert Picton. The winners were announced in Victoria yesterday at the annual banquet of Crime Writers of Canada.

Congratulations Louise, Winner of the2011  Arthur Ellis Award for crime-writing excellence.

Louise Penny checks in on her Latest Mystery

Good news - BURY YOUR DEAD

We had marvelous news about BURY YOUR DEAD. It has been chosen by the ALA - the American Library Association - as the Best Mystery of 2010! It was also chosen by the CBA - Canadian Bookseller's Association - as their favorite hand-sell of 2010. And BURY YOUR DEAD has been nominated for a Dilys Award in the US. Each year the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association votes on the book they most enjoyed selling. The other nominees are: The other nominees are: Steve Hamilton (The Lock Artist), Dennis Lehane (Moonlight Mile), Colin Cotterill (Love Songs From a Shallow Grave), Keith Thomson (Once a Spy), and Don Winslow (Savages). Very exciting!

Note: I have yet to read Bury Your Dead but my book club loved it.  I was interested to find out that part of the mystery takes place at the Quebec Literary and Historical Society Society where once, I was a member.

Another Penny Treat

Bury Your Dead - News and Reviews

Louise Penny's new thriller, Bury Your Dead, which will be coming out in the US and Canada in September.  (The US cover is on the left above and the Canadian on the right. )

The book has received a rare starred review in the Kirkus Reviews. Here's part of what they wrote:

"Gamache's excruciating grief over a wrong decision, Beauvoir's softening toward the unconventional, a plot twist so unexpected it's chilling, and a description of Québec intriguing enough to make you book your next vacation there, all add up to a superior read. Bring on the awards."

And Booklist has also given Bury Your Dead a starred review. Here's an except:

"Penny’s first five crime novels in her Armand Gamache series have all been outstanding, but her latest is the best yet, a true tour de force of storytelling….Penny hits every note perfectly in what is one of the most elaborately constructed and remarkably moving mysteries in years."

Louise Penny checks in

Former Thunder Bay resident, mystery writer Louise Penny tells us about her latest book in the Inspector Gammach series

As you know, book 5 in the Chief Inspector Gamache novels is coming out this fall, in late September, early October. It’s called THE BRUTAL TELLING, and here is a little bit about it:

In the heart of the forest, two men sit at midnight, haunted by fear of discovery. In a few hours’ time, one of them will be dead, his secrets following him to the grave... When C. I. Gamache is called to investigate a murder in a picturesque Three Pines, he finds a village in chaos. A man has been found, bludgeoned to death, and there is no sign of a weapon, a motive or even the dead man’s name. Gamache and his colleagues, Inspector Beauvoir and Agent Isabelle Lacoste, start to dig under the skin of this peaceful haven for clues. They slowly uncover a trail of stolen treasure, mysterious codes and a shameful history that begins to shed light on the victim’s identity – and point to a horrible killer.

All I can says is "Yikes!"

Louise Penny hits NYTimes Bestseller List

We can't say she is from Thunder Bay, alas, but she did live here for several years. Many people may remember Louise Penny as a CBC announcer at our local CBQ. Louise's new mystery, A Rule Against Murder (called The Murder Stone in Canada) is the fourth in her Chief Inspector Gamache series. The others are The Cruelest Month, Dead Cold and Still Life. Last year, I read Dead Cold and it was a grand read in the tradition mystery style which I enjoy very much,

The New York Times review:
Louise Penny applies her magic touch to A RULE AGAINST MURDER (Minotaur, $24.95), giving the village mystery an elegance and depth not often seen in this traditional genre. Although Penny is no slouch at constructing a whodunit puzzle, her great skill is her ability to create a charming mise-en-scène and inhabit it with complex characters.

There’s something other­worldly and altogether enchanting about the Manoir Bellechasse, the magnificent lodge in the Canadian wilderness where Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, has taken his wife for their 35th wedding anniversary. Not only does the auberge offer grand views and the order and calm of old-world service, but it also observes a no-kill policy, with the proprietors feeding wild animals in winter and forbidding guests to hunt or fish.

Someone obviously failed to explain that rule to the cultured but quarrelsome family holding a reunion to unveil a statue of their late patriarch, who makes his feelings felt by toppling down on one of his own. As Gamache observes, “things were not as they seemed,” not even in a paradise like Bellechasse. And never in a Louise Penny mystery.

Local fans and all writers should check out Penny's web site at www.louisepenny.com. This is a model author's site with info, pictures, hints to writers etc.