From the Dagger award winning author Louise Penny comes the second Armand Gamache mystery set in the stunning countryside of Quebec. In the case of my book club, most of the Louise Penny fans were perfectly happy with the book, while others of us were less enthusiastic. The doomed CC has written a self-help book that prattles about love and enlightenment, even though she is actually like the Snow Queen from the fairytale who pierces everyone’s hearts with ice.

No one liked CC de Poitiers – not her daughter, not her husband, not her lover, and certainly not her neighbors.Anyone with a single brain cell would see jumper cables clipped to a metal chair and their alarm bells would deafen everybody in the town. Maybe because he speaks French but Armand Gamache in figuring out clues before his team of detectives reminds me of a modern Hercule Poirot.

Also, I enjoyed revisiting some of the villagers from last book: Gabri and Olivier- the heart-warming gay couple, Myrna- the librarian, Ruth - the cranky poet, Clara and Peter - the artists. Although Louise had me from the acknowledgments at the beginning of Still Life, there came a scene in A Fatal Grace that gave me chills in a way that only the very best manuscripts ever have. The village of Three Pines and its stubborn, gentle (and occasionally murderous) folk who insist on living in a place that would kill you if you ran out of firewood.The psychological analysis is all wrong; people don’t act like this, even if they are completely mean. Are there any significant clues to be found in the video cassette of The Lion in Winter that turned up in CC's garbage after the murder? CC is talk of the town, though not for anything she has done, even though she’d be happy to espouse her new-age way of living. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté and his wife, Reine-Marie, make their first appearance in the book on the day after Christmas, when they have a tradition of reviewing unsolved cases.

Although I am well behind many in reading Louise Penny’s series, i enjoyed my first visit to Three Pines making this an easy choice for vacation reading. Heck, I may remember a dog or two getting some thoughts in although it could be that I'm just remembering Gamache translating doggie thoughts. I don't think I could continue to read an author who would use such strong terms to describe an abused child.I was surprised and delighted to find myself back in the village of Three Pines for the second Gamache mystery. Deliberately electrocuted, the villagers almost seem to be celebrating that the monster is dead and for good reason, but her death is linked to another sad loss nearby.

I know I will and I’ll not be waiting until I go to an out of town library until I read the next installment. On the escalators at Ogilvy’s, Clara passes CC, who says to the man beside her, “I’m so sorry, Denis, that you think Clara’s art is amateur and banal. She has also created a richly-imagined setting in the charming Canadian village of Three Pines, which is located somewhere just south of Montreal. I have borrowed the one-liner from Dead Cold “she was only famous in the mirror” (paraphrased) and have used it more than once. Highly recommend if you're in the mood for a fast easy-to-read crime-mystery with well-developed recurring characters (each with their own secrets) that you get to know better with each installment.Obnoxious, cruel, -she was maddeningly bad news- to the people who knew who she was, but did not reveal the secret. What interests you most about the two murder victims, CC and the bag lady known only as Elle, and the way Gamache conducts his investigation?