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Louise Penny

Louise Penny LOUISE PENNY is the multi-award-winning author of the Armand Gamache mysteries. Born in Toronto, she now lives outside the village of Sutton, Quebec. Louise has been on book tours promoting her work in the USA and Canada, the UK, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Her books are published in; Canada and U.S.A. (St. Martin’s Press), UK (Little, Brown), Brazil (Editora Evora), China (Shanghai Litterature and Art Publishing House), Croatia (Hena Com d.o.o.), Czech Republic (Euromedia Group K.S), Estonia (Varrak Publishers), Finland(Werner Sodestrom Corp), France (Editions Actes Sud), Germany (Verlagsgruppe Random House GMBH), Greece (Psichogios Publications S.A.), Italy (Edizioni Piemme SPA), Japan (Random House Kodansh G. Ltd.), Netherlands (Meulenhoff Boekerij), Norway (Silke Fortag as), Poland (JK Publishing), Portugal (Edicoes Asa), Quebec (Editions Flammarion Quebec), Russia (Azbooka-Atticus Publishing), South Korea (Finis Africa/Korea), Spain (La Factoria de Ideas sl), Sweden (Whalstrom & Widstrand), Taiwan (Faces Publications of Cite Publishing) and Turkey (Marti Yayintari).


For more information www.louisepenny.com and louisepenny.blogspot.com

LATEST BOOK - A BETTER MAN

Louise Penny It’s Gamache’s first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter.

As crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father.

Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel…, he resumes the search.

As the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. And in the tumult, mistakes are made.

In the next novel in this “constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves” (New York Times Book Review), Gamache must face a horrific possibility, and a burning question.

What would you do if your child’s killer walked free?



“‘A Better Man,' with its mix of meteorological suspense, psychological insight and criminal pursuit, is arguably the best book yet in an outstanding, original oeuvre.” ―Tom Nolan, The Wall Street Journal

"Enchanting... one of his most ennobling missions." ―Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sûreté du Québec in the latest novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny.

GLASS HOUSES

When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines one cold November day, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. And finally, watching the unmoving figure, a pall settles over the pretty Québec village.

Armand Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Soreté du Québec, knows something is seriously wrong. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead. An accusation on the village green. Gamache knows there must be a purpose behind this odd act.

Yet Gamache does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.

But when the figure vanishes and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been discharged, or levied.

Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montreal, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November, from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache's own conscience is standing in judgement.

A GREAT RECKONING

When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes.

Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must.

And there he finds four young cadets in the Soreté academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map.

Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protégée of the murdered professor.

The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets.

For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning.

THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village.

But when the boy disappears the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.
And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.

And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here. A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back.

Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.

THE LONG WAY HOME

Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of the Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. But his peace is interrupted when his friend and neighbour, Clara Morrow tells him her artist husband Peter has failed to come home. She asks for Gamache's help in finding him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamche feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines. But he must.

Together with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Myrna Landers, they journey deeper and deeper into Quebec. And deeper and deeper into the soul of Peter Morrow. A man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist, he would sell that soul. And may have. The journey takes to an area so desolate, so damned, the first mariners called it The land God gave to Cain. And there they discover the terrible damage done by a sin-sick soul.

HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN

Minotaur Books Canada / US Edition
It’s a time of dazzling snowfalls and gatherings with friends. But shadows are falling on the festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Evil forces from within the highest echelon of the Sûreté du Québec are lining up against him. There may be peace – and redemption – for Gamache and his devoted colleagues in Three Pines. But at what cost to him and those he holds dear? Released August 27th, 2013

THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY

(Pub date: August 28, 2012 in the USA and UK)
No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as "the beautiful mystery."
But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery's massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.

Publishers Weekly named Best Summer Book of 2012 (long before pub date)

Bibliography:

THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY (2012) Sphere UK, Minotaur Books.

A TRICK OF THE LIGHT (2011) Little Brown UK, Minotaur Books USA.

BURY YOUR DEAD (2010) Sphere, UK and Commonwealth/Minotaur Books USA.

THE BRUTAL TELLING (2009) Sphere, UK and Commonwealth/Minotaur Books USA.

THE MURDER STONE (Sphere, UK and Commonwealth)/ A RULE AGAINST MURDER (Minotaur Books, USA) (2008).

THE CRUELEST MONTH (2007) Sphere, UK and Commonwealth/Minotaur Books, USA.

DEAD COLD (Sphere, UKand Commonwealth)/A FATAL GRACE (Minotaur Books, US) (2006).

STILL LIFE (2005) Sphere, UK and Commonwealth /Minotaur Books, US. The Chief Inspector Gamache books have been sold in more than a dozen languages including: German, French, Japanese, Chinese, Estonian, Turkish, Korean and Danish.