Amanda Chapman is a lifelong mystery lover and wordsmith. An enthusiastic fan of traditional mysteries and of New York City, she found herself wondering, “What if someone recreated Agatha Christie’s personal library—even to the furnishings and architecture—in New York City? What would happen in that space?” And thus Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library—the first in a new series—was born.
At CrimeReads Chapman tagged five "subtly paranormal myster[ies], in which little more is asked of the skeptical reader except a certain suspension of disbelief." One title on the list:
Still Life by Louise PennyRead about another title on Chapman's list.
In this first of Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries, the town of Three Pines is as much a character as any of the players in the drama. “Like Narnia,” Penny writes, “it was generally found unexpectedly and with a degree ofsurprise… Anyone fortunate enough to find it once usually found their way back.” And many of us have been doing exactly that for some twenty years.
In Still Life, Gamache is called to the suspicious death in the village of Jane Neal, a much-loved retired schoolteacher who has been found dead in the woods. The locals want desperately to believe it’s a tragic hunting accident, but Gamache suspects that she has died at the hands of someone, or something, much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
In the course of the investigation, we and Gamache come to know the renowned artist Clara Morrow, the wonderfully foul-mouthed poet Ruth Zardo, a former psychologist turned bookstore owner Myrna Landers, and bistro hosts, Gabri Dubeau and Olivier Brulé. But we also come to know Gamache – empathetic but clear-sighted, intuitive but empirical. Gamache is not in any way a supernatural force. What he is, is a man charged with bringing a mysterious peace back to Three Pines.
Still Life is among Brittany Bunzey's ten sinister small town thrillers.
The Page 69 Test: Still Life.
--Marshal Zeringue
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