Many bloggers I follow are fans of Louise Penny’s Inspector Armand Gamache books. So, seeing so many rave-y posts and reading FOMO prompted me to pick up Still Life – the first book in this series.
About Still Life
The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships. Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines – a place so free from crime it doesn’t even have its own police force.
But Gamache knows that evil is lurking behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will start to give up its dark secrets.
My Review
I didn’t realize that this book is one of those cozy mysteries – a category I dislike. I like my thrillers gritty.
Still, at first, this seemed like an intriguing book. It has a strong focus on art, several characters we get to know deeply, and a cozy village vibe (think a modern Miss Marple book). But a streak of darkness makes it not so cozy a mystery.
The novel’s title hints at the focus on art but also has a deeper meaning about growing and changing through life.
Life is change. If you aren’t growing and evolving, you’re standing still, and the rest of the world is surging ahead.
There were a few puzzling elements, like Gamache’s dislike for a junior deputy. It’s a recurring plot point without being crucial to the main story. I guess this was establishing character dynamics for the rest of the series? But it did feel weird, especially when the book keeps trying to project Gamache as this incredible mentor when the dynamics between them were so messed up. There were other clunky portions, which made me feel a little meh about the book. The mystery resolution was also flat.
On a positive note, I enjoyed learning a little about Quebec. I never knew there was tension between Quebec and the rest of Canada and friction between francophones and anglophones. The archery and hunting details were interesting as well.
Overall, this book was just about okay. I am a little bemused at the general book blogger love for this series. I didn’t finish the book wanting to read the next one. There was no great suspense (I had guessed the killer midway through the book). The flow of the story was very uneven, the dialog was often stilted, and the mystery was not very exciting.
Do you think I should try the next book in the series to see if I enjoy it more?
