Genre: Book
Grade: A
Notable People: Louise Penny
Title: ” The Beautiful Mystery”
Review: Just when I was getting the rhythm of Penny’s Gamache series, set in the wonderful, mythical Quebecois village of Three Pines, she throws me for a total loop by going to new, strange and exotic locale in in this eighth installment of this magnificent series. No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups (“Between the Wolves”), hidden deep in the wilderness of Québec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient Gregorian chants. All of this forms the backdrop for a bizarre murder setting investigated by Gamache and Jean-Guy. Like all her books, this is incredibly well researched and delves deep into ancient Papal lore, the origins of the Gilbertine order of monks and the birth of Gregorian chants. You’ll be taken in by the beauty of the history, the remote Abbey, the chants themselves and this mysterious place…and on top of it, you get a brilliant book that just happens to be a whodunnit….and you get Armand Gamache. Nuff’ said