When thrown into the middle of a long-running series, I find myself wanting to return to read the origin story. Recently, after completing Louise Penny’s 15^th installment in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, I returned to the first, where she introduces the reader to the wise Inspector and his world.

Still Life (2005) by Louise Penny is a traditional mystery set in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines south of Montreal. A beloved local fixture, Miss Jane Neal, has been found dead on Thanksgiving morning in what the locals think is a tragic hunting accident but the Chief Inspector fears is something much more sinister. Gamache commands a small force of Montreal homicide detectives to search for the truth. In this first of the series that now stretches over 20 years, we see the Chief Inspector’s strength, integrity, and underlying compassion for the victim, the townspeople who mourn Jane Neal’s death, and for his own team. Penny writes in a crisp and readable style, providing us with key insights into Gamache, his detectives, the quirky townspeople, and ultimately the killer.

Gamache, we learn, has benefited in his career from mentors and senior officers who believed in him and yet were not afraid to speak the truth when he needed to hear it face-to-face. Penny includes several characters who are being mentored by the Chief Inspector, from his second-in-command to a young Agent Yvette Nichol who so wants to impress Gamache with her brain and policing skills but who cannot see—even when it is written in plain English on a mirror—that she is looking at the problem. Nichols’ desire to showcase her skills combined with her inability to collaborate with the team makes for an interesting sub-plot for Gamache to solve.

Three Pines is a small, fictional village where everyone is “more than they appear.” A respected poet who is the town grouch, an influential artist and his less-influential artistic wife, and a gay couple who have moved to the village to run the local bistro and find themselves. Jane Neal, the village’s long-time schoolteacher before her retirement, has left clues to her murderer in her “art” that she has finally consented to share with her friends. Knowing that they may be uncovered leads the killer to act. Gamache and his team work through several scenarios and potential suspects before the identity is uncovered in a believable and satisfying conclusion.

Throughout, one can see Gamache falling in love with the tiny village and its quirky citizens, as Penny is setting up the longer series and the Chief Inspector’s continued involvement in the life—and deaths—of Three Pines. A strong debut and worth the read for those interested in good, contemporary murder mysteries.

More to come . . .

DJB

Photo of forest from Unsplash