Still Life

One of my resolutions this year was to read more Canadian authors, I haven't been very successful but I working on it.

I'm not sure how I heard about this book, and somehow I ended up with it in my library book bag. It's the first book of a series, by a Canadian author, Louise Penny, and it's set in a small town in Quebec (bonus!).

Here's the blurb for Still Life:

As the early morning mist clears on Thanksgiving Sunday, the homes of Three Pines come to life - all except one…

To locals, the village is a safe haven. So they are bewildered when a well-loved member of the community is found lying dead in the maple woods. Surely it was an accident - a hunter's arrow gone astray. Who could want Jane Neal dead?

In a long and distinguished career with the Sûreté du Quebec, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has learned to look for snakes in Eden. Gamache knows something dark is lurking behind the white picket fences, and if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will begin to give up its secrets…

The beauty about reading a book that is set in Canada, is that it's set in familiar territory. You know that the Thanksgiving that the characters are celebrating is in October, you know exactly what a double double from Timmy's tastes like, the changing of the leaves, the list goes on and on. It's like spending time in your back yard.

So as you can imagine (and see) I enjoyed the setting. I'm not certain if the town of Three Pines is fictional or not, but I certainly enjoyed visiting it. I loved that the author told us the story on how town got its name. And because it's such a small town, everyone knows each other, and the characters that were introduced just seemed to belong there. They relationships between characters was well written and the dialogue was very good. It's the small things like the banter between two old friends that really makes it believable for me.

I found the book very easy to read, it was fast paced, it kept me guessing. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I started doubting my suspect. But at the end I wasn't too surprised on who was guilty of committing the crime.

Still Life by Louise Penny (4.5/5) Mystery; Published: Headline (2005); Series: # 1, Inspector Armand Gamache; New Author; Canadian Author; 100 + Reading Challenge (17); Library book;