We had some marvelous news in June.  THE CRUELEST MONTH has been nominated for a Barry Award in the United States.  The list is chosen by the editors and reviewers for two prominent crime fiction magazines in the US, Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures.  THE CRUELEST MONTH is up for BEST NOVEL.  Here’s the complete shortlist in that category… Best Novel: Trigger City by Sean Chercover The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason Envy the Night by Michael Koryta Red Knife by William Kent Krueger The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow Congratulations to all the nominees!  The winner will be announced at Bouchercon, the huge convention for fans and writers of crime fiction.  It’s in Indianapolis this year, in October. The next Armand Gamache novel has a release date! THE BRUTAL TELLING, set in Three Pines at Labour Day, will be published in both the US and Canada in October. It's a good idea to pre-order since the first editions sold out immediately with the last book. Click here if you wish to read the Synopsis and see the book cover. I'm very excited about THE BRUTAL TELLING, and hope you enjoy it! THE CRUELEST MONTH, has won the Agatha for Best Novel. The award was presented in Washington D.C. Saturday, May 2nd. This is the second win in a row for the Armand Gamache books following the Agatha last year for A FATAL GRACE.

And we’ve had some other terrific news.  The Cruelest Month has been nominated for the prestigious Anthony Award for Best Mystery Novel in the US! 
The other nominees are:

As well, The Cruelest Month has been nominated for a Macavity Award, also for Best Mystery novel in the US.  I’ve never been up for this award and it’s a rare honour!

Both the Anthony and the Macavity will be announced and presented at Boucheron, in October.  A sincere congratulations to all the nominees!



And – more good news – A Rule Against Murder (The Murder Stone) has been named one of Booklists Top Ten Mysteries of the Year.  (Their year goes from April to April).  This following on A Rule Against Murder making the New York Times Bestseller list!  And Marilyn Stasio gave it a great review in the Times…

New York Times
Louise Penny applies her magic touch to A RULE AGAINST MURDER, giving the village mystery an elegance and depth not often seen in this traditional genre. Although Penny is no slouch at constructing a whodunit puzzle, her great skill is her ability to create a charming mise-en-scene and inhabit it with complex characters.
To read the full review click here.

And there's been a lot of other wonderful news about this book. It was chosen as a prestigious IndieNext Pick, Mystery Reader gave it 5 out of 5 stars.
 
The Charlotte Observer has given it a rave review as did Publisher's Weekly.  Sarah Weinman made it a Pick Of the Week, the Irish Times declared it a Hot Book, the Toronto Globe and Mail named it the top mystery in Canada in 2008.  Marie Claire Magazine in the UK gave it 4 out of 4 stars.  And it received a rare 3 starred reviews in these journals:
 
Starred Library Journal
Canadian author Penny has garnered numerous awards for her elegant literary mysteries featuring the urbane Armand Gamache, chief police inspector from Quebec. Gamache is intelligent, observant, and implacable, indispensable attributes for the sophisticated detection that characterizes this series....Penny’s engaging, well-crafted mystery probes the dynamics of a severely dysfunctional family and the festering wounds that lead to its ultimate destruction. Her psychological acumen, excellent prose, and ingenious plotting make this essential reading for mystery lovers and admirers of superb literary fiction. Fans of Dorothy L. Sayers, P.D. James, and Elizabeth George will also be delighted.

Starred Booklist
Readers who haven’t discovered Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series yet are in for a treat….Not only are we treated to Penny’s usual rich characterizations, but the atmospheric and beautiful language will make you want to take your next vacation at the Manoir….One of the best traditional mystery series currently being published.

Kirkus Review
This latest treat in the series (The Cruelest Month, 2008, etc.) will keep fans salivating in anticipation, savoring each delectable morsel and yearning for more.

As you might know, A RULE AGAINST MURDER is called THE MURDER STONE in Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India.  But they're the same book.  Annoying, I know, but the publishers felt strongly that their different readers would react better to the different titles.  Just, please, don't buy both books.  If you do, you'll probably figure out whodunnit. 

A RULE AGAINST MURDER / THE MURDER STONE is the fourth Chief Inspector Gamache mystery, and the last in the seasonal cycle that began with STILL LIFE.

A RULE AGAINST MURDER / THE MURDER STONE is set over the course of one summer week at the Manoir Bellechasse, a remote luxury inn on the shores of Lac Massawippi, in Quebec. It's to this inn that Armand Gamache has brought Reine Marie to celebrate a wedding anniversary. But while they're surrounded by nature, it soon becomes clear there's something deeply unnatural there with them. Perhaps it's the Finney family. Cultured, gracious, the more they smile the more vicious they become. Perhaps its one of the young workers at the remote Manoir, suffering cabin fever so far from civilization.

Guests go to the elegant old inn to escape the past. But it comes looking for them. And as the stifling heat closes in, as the humidity rises, as a terrible summer storm approaches and crashes into the old log lodge, it finds them. A body is discovered. It's up to Chief Inspector Gamache and his team to figure out how the victim could have been murdered, and who among them did it.

The chase takes him to the village of Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own past, and finally to a harrowing climax.

'The mind is its own place,' Gamache quotes. 'And in itself Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.'

At the lovely Manoir Bellechasse he finds both.

I wrote A RULE AGAINST MURDER / THE MURDER STONE to explore a number of themes. That of nature and civilization. Of fathers and sons. Of perception and memory and the power of the mind to create either Heaven or Hell. Of the wildernesses we make for ourselves and the prisons we put ourselves in.

But I also wrote it, and chose the Manoir Bellechasse for a simpler reason.

As you might know, I was raised and weaned on Agatha Christie and the other Golden Age mystery writers. I'm so deeply in their debt. For hours and hours of comfort. Of enjoyment. To escape into a world that seemed more certain than my own. That gave me companionship in lonely times. That kept me company when I was ill.

And finally, that inspired my own choice of career and genre.

A RULE AGAINST MURDER / THE MURDER STONE and its hermetic environment is a homage, a thank you, to Agatha, Ngaio, Dorothy, Michael, Josephine, Georges.

And to you, for following Gamache through autumn, winter, spring and now the summer of his life.

This brings a thank you from me. And a heartfelt hope that you enjoy reading A RULE AGAINST MURDER / THE MURDER STONE.

You can see the pictures of the launch party for THE MURDER STONE throughout the website, they were taken by James Napier, who also gave the book a rave review in his mystery books column in the Sherbrooke Record.