Nature of the Beast

Louise Penny is one of my favorite mystery authors.  She writes a novel that contains a mystery within it.  Her prose are beautiful and her character development over the course of the series has been in depth and personal.  Reading each of the books that are published is getting back in touch with a group of friends and catching up on what has been happening in your lives since you last met.
She has created such a wonderful cast of characters living both in the village and the police officers who always come to Three Pines to solve the crimes there.  I love everyone from retired Chief Superintendent, Armand Gamache to his assistant and now son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, to the new Chief Inspector, Isabelle Lacoste.  Then there are the townspeople, Olivier and Gabri, who run the Bed and Breakfast and the Bistro, Ruth Zardo, with her pet duck, the resident poet, Clara, the artist, Myrna, who owns the bookstore and others who come and go through the series when needed to push forward the plot.

Also her descriptions of the village of Three Pines is so wonderful that while I am reading the book I can almost feel like I am there.  Then when I finish I feel bad that the town I live in is not that small and tight knit.  Sitting in my cold living room on a winter day reading about Reine-Marie and Armand Gamache I wish there was a bistro to walk across the common to and sit by the warm fire my friends and share news and drinks and lunch.

In this story a family living off more isolated in the forest of Three Pines comes to the forefront of the story when their son is killed in the woods.  Penny for the first time in the book, brings in a real life historical case about Gerald Bull, a real man and scientist who was a arms designer.  Bull with the help of some other scientists who worked on creating "Baby Babylon" a massive gun, built on the border of the Unites States and Canada in Quebec's Eastern Township.  It was built to be the biggest missile launcher in the world.  It was pointed at the United States.

Penny takes the facts of the case and builds it into the fabric of  her characters in Three Pines,  She dredges up the history of the case and ties it into the history of the town and the citizens who would have lived in the town at that time.  As Gamache and his colleagues look into the murder many secrets are uncovered, feelings are explored and friendships are tested.

Once again Louise Penny has used her way with words to really dig deep and explore the human condition.  " It feels like my bones are dissolving," said Evelyn.  And Clara nodded.  She knew the feeling.  "Tell me," said Clara.  She didn't ask, "Of what?" Clara knew what she was afraid of .  And she knew the only reason Evelyn had allowed her past the threshold wasn't because of the casseroles she carried in her arms, but because of something else Clara carried.  The hole in her own heart."
The words so descriptive you can picture not only the conversation but the feelings involved.  Penny is a master story teller.