A World of Curiosities: A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery, NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES CALLED THREE PINES

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The graduation celebration in Three Pines is joyful, but Gamache is put off by the presence of Sam Arsenault. He’s grown up to be a charming, attractive young man, but there’s something about him Gamache doesn’t trust. He didn’t have to guess her age, he actually knew exactly how old she was. Thirty-six. And he knew her name, though they hadn’t yet searched her body for ID, and no formal identification had been made. In addition to an excellent mystery, Penny explores sexual abuse of children, misogyny, and gun crimes while holding me in the safety and comfort of Three Pines and the familiar cast of characters.

Simply outstanding… Penny’s gift for intelligent and transcendent storytelling delivers light, bringing themes of forgiveness and redemption to society’s darker moments.” — Christian Science Monitor A World of Curiosities is a fiction book written by Canadian author and former journalist Louise Penny. It is the 18th novel in a series of mystery novels featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. [1] It was published by Minotaur Books [2] as a sequel to Penny's 2021 book The Madness of Crowds. [3] When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache first had Jean-Guy Beauvoir in his sights, Jean-Guy was a green, arrogant young man although Armand could see something in him that he wanted to nurture. The first case they worked together was a horrific one - the abuse of two young children and the death of their mother. Now, all those years later, those two young people were in Three Pines and Armand was uneasy. But it was when a long hidden room was discovered, one that had been hidden for one hundred and fifty years, that events in the lives of the Three Pines villagers, as well as Armand, Jean-Guy and the Surete du Quebec investigators, changed. Kudos, Madam Penny, for proving that Canada does deserve its placate on the map of strong settings for stellar mysteries!Never has this reviewer written such a long synopsis. Never has Penny written such a book where this long a synopsis was needed. This is not a bad thing.

My life has always revolved around the written and spoken word. I worked as a journalist for nine years then in international corporate communications Godyear, Sheena (5 Dec 2022). "How a Montreal Massacre survivor became a character in a Louise Penny detective novel". CBC. This may be the most outstanding, stunning book in the entire series. If anyone feared that the plotting and splendid writing might be diminished after so many books set in this small Quebec village, need not worry. The characters are well-developed and memorable, with emotions conveyed to the reader. Gamache tries to see the good in humanity. He is thoughtful, kind, focused, and calm. However, a vile, psychopathic serial killer got into his mind in the past. Gamache has been long-haunted with dread that he might seek vengeance on his family and himself. It is comforting to know that the murderer is imprisoned for life.

The objects were collected by Sir Robert and Sir William who made acquisitions on a long journey travelling through Europe and on to Cairo and Jerusalem. The collection consisted of over 200 objects and included many natural curiosities made into decorative art objects, such as mounted seashells and ostrich eggs. The painting was unknown for centuries, and before it was donated to the Norwich Castle Museum in 1947, its last owner warned that it was "very faded, of no artistic value, only curious from an archaeological point of view." [4] It is now on display, with the strombus shell in an enamelled mount, as part of the Norwich Castle Museum Collection. Well I enjoyed this one too, but.... it just contained too much. I think the editor should have suggested leaving out the two children and just going for the super crazy yet incredibly smart killer. Or vice versa. Either would do. Both was overkill. (pun - sorry). Despite my best intentions to slowly enjoy this book, I devoured it in one huge gulp. Oh well, it just means I have to wait longer for my next Gamache novel. I love reading novels where a specific painting, either real or invented, features – especially when we’re given a detailed description of it. I suppose it’s part and parcel of my needing a sense of space in my fiction, whether an imaginary environment like Gormenghast or that of Piranesi’s carceri, or descriptions of real geography in fiction. And how could the picture get into a room sealed over a century ago? There are a lot of mysteries to be solved here, and the presence of Fiona and Sam Arsenault make things even murkier.

I have dispatcht this chimicall embassador to let thee knowe that I am passing well, but what I shall returne home I am a little doubtfull. One while we are Italians, Another while Tur’ks, by & by Egiptians, & eftsoones merry Greeks, but all very well and handsome . . . I might spend another week and not see all the rarityes. Indeed heer is a world of curiosityes & some very rich ones, as cabinets & Juells.”In a separate plot thread, Gamache is called upon to solve the mystery of a secret room discovered in the attic of the village bookstore. Inside, the villagers discover a long lost copy of a “grimoire” an old book thought to have been used by witches to summon demons. Nearby is a huge painting.

Louise Penny succumbs to the Woke culture. There is little character development, almost no humor, the award winning style of her other books is entirely missing. The usual murder intertwined with Three Pines life and a social problem is abandoned. Now she spends her time arguing for gun control, better support for emotionally damaged children and other social problems in a manner that makes one think she is shaking her finger at you. This story is about pedophilia, of course supported by corrupt police and a killer the tortures his victims before decapitating them. On first sight this appears to be a copy of The Paston Treasure, a priceless work known also as A World of Curiosities that dates from the 1600s. But on closer inspection the painting reveals some oddities — among the objects depicting life in the seventeenth century are modern day items like digital watches and model aeroplanes. A Wo A World of Curiosities is the 18th in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, and it was breathtaking! How does author Louise Penny keep finding these ideas, the plots, the brilliant writing that turns into a book like this? The world of curiosities that Armand and Jean-Guy turned up, setting a huge puzzle which needed to be solved, was excellent. Highly recommended.Going to the past can be painful and dangerous. It is there where Chief Inspector Gamache and Agent Jean-Guy Beauvoir first meet during the case of two children so emotionally damaged they may have murdered their own mother, Clotilde Arsenault. The older sister, Fiona, is sent to prison, while the brother, Sam, is deemed too young to be tried. Returning to the present, Gamache and his wife, Raine-Marie, take in a now-released Fiona and facilitated her enrollment in the École Polytechnique, from which she is now graduating along with Harriet, bookshop owner and ex-psychologist, Myrna Lander. Natalie Provost, a survivor of the Montreal Massacre where 14 were killed and 13 were wounded, all women, is receiving a special award. Sam showing up at the graduation and is planning to stay in Three Pines, is an unwelcome surprise to Gamache, who never trusted the young man. Penny at one point mentions a painter who became great because she ambitiously stepped outside of her comfort zone and tried something new. So I think Penny, in creating what is a kind of thriller she has not quite done before, is creates a kind of homage to a once popular horror writer here, whose name if i shared it would give away a central plot point (oh, somebody else will tell you).