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Welcome to Three Pines! I'm so glad you've discovered
the Armand Gamache books. I'm also thrilled to
say that book 7 in the series, A
TRICK OF THE LIGHT has been published
in the United States and Canada and immediately
landed at number 4 on the New York Times bestseller
list! Thanks to you! I honestly cannot find
the words to describe how I felt when the publisher
of Minotaur Books, Andrew Martin, called me in
Omaha, while I was on tour, to tell me. I slumped
to the side of the bed and looked at the room
and knew I would never, ever forget that hotel
room. Or those words. 'You're number 4 on the
New York Times list.'
Astonishing.
And this happened because of you. You bought A
TRICK OF THE LIGHT, you told others
about the book and the series. You championed
it. And you held my hand whenever I felt fearful
and insecure.
And here we are!! We share this event. Hope you're
as thrilled as I am!
We have had more great news for A
TRICK OF THE LIGHT it has been
named by the New York Times as one of the Best
Crime Novels of 2011. Both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
have named it among the Best Books of 2011 – and
in the top 10 Crime Fiction books of the year!
It has also made Publisher’s Weekly list of Best
Mysteries of 2011, Toronto Globe and Mail has
named A Trick of the Light as one of the best
crime novels of 2011! and BookPage voted A Trick
of the Light the sixth best book published in
the United States all year. Of any kind.
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
landed on all sorts of bestseller lists across
North America, including:
#4 - New York Times bestseller list
#5 - Publishers Weekly
#5 - Chicago Tribune
#6 - Washington Post
#9 - National Independent Bookstores
#7 - Toronto Globe and Mail
#2 - Canadian Bookseller's Association
#3 - Vancouver sun
#10- Maclean's
#5 - Entertainment Weekly
And more. The
reviews are outstanding:
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Penny, elevating herself to the pantheon
that houses P.D. James, Ruth Rendell and Minette
Walters, demonstrates an exquisite touch with
characterization, plotting and artistic sensitivity.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Outstanding….With her usual subtle
touch and timely injections of humor, Penny effectively
employs the recurring motif of the chiaroscuro,
the interplay of light and dark, which distinguishes
Morrow's artwork and which resonates symbolically
in the souls of the author's characters.”
People Magazine (4 out of 4 stars)
“Stellar….With
her smart plot and fascinating, nuanced characters,
Penny proves again that she is one of our finest
writers.”
The New York Times Book Review
“A deceptively charming
whodunit… delivering acute insights into
the complicated motives of complex characters….Behind
each volatile outburst of marital discord and
professional envy lies some deeper truth involving
the betrayal of trust and the need for atonement
and forgiveness”
Parade
Magazine (A Book of the Week Pick)
“Louise Penny elevates the small-town murder
mystery to new heights in this seventh installment
of her psychologically piercing series featuring
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.”
Richmond
Times-Dispatch
“A commanding and artful performance….
For connoisseurs of mysteries, success is judged
by the genre's holy trinity: plot, people and
prose. When all three attain excellence, a fourth
quality shines through: power….. what lifts
her work to the highest plane is the deep sense
of humanity with which she invests her novels,
and ‘A Trick of the Light’ satisfies
and surpasses that standard.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Superb…masterful….Penny continues
to amaze with each novel. Wrapped in exciting
plots and domestic details, her characters are
people we want to follow through their very real
joys and sorrows.”
Booklist called it '…the top of the
genre'. Library Journal described it as
'Excellent'.
The Associate Press “...a gripping
mystery.”
And,
the very influential Romantic Times, which
also review crime fiction, has made A TRICK OF
THE LIGHT a "Top Pick" - "Penny’s
characters are sharply drawn, realistically complicated
and heartbreakingly real. Wonderful, complex characters
and sophisticated plotting makes this a perfect
book. Do not miss it."
A
TRICK OF THE LIGHT
is set in the fictional Quebec village of Three Pines,
and we get to see what happens with Clara and
her first huge solo art show. How this central
event affects so many people around her, and Clara
herself. Her fears and insecurities, how the world
judges her art, how her friends and Peter her
husband react. It's a world of nuance, of shading,
of the difference between words and tone, between
what people say and what they think. It's a world
of glances and slight smiles. And slights.
We
also see how Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector
Beauvoir are doing as they continue their climb
to health after the tragedies in that factory
raid (see BURY
YOUR DEAD) - to accept what happened,
and move on. Or not.
There
is, of course, a murder. But more than that, A
TRICK OF THE LIGHT is a meditation
on hope. And each character's struggle to find
peace. To find a quiet place in the bright sunshine.
I
so hope you enjoy A TRICK
OF THE LIGHT. I put so much of myself
into it. My own personal struggles. And my own
beliefs. And insecurities. And dreams. Not in
the hopes of persuading anyone to my view of the
world, but just because they're at the core of
who I am. And the books will always, I hope, be
an honest reflection of that, no matter how painful,
at times.
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As
I've mentioned before, the Chief Inspector Gamache books,
while clearly crime fiction, are not in fact about murder
or even death. They're really about life. And friendship.
About belonging and choices. And how very difficult
it can be, how much courage it can take, to be kind.
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BURY YOUR DEAD has
won the prestigious Nero Award, given out for the best
example of literary excellence in Crime Writing published
in the US in 2011.
The sixth Gamache book, BURY
YOUR DEAD, is now out in trade paperback and
has had a terrific response since it was published. It
won the Arthur Ellis for Best Crime Novel in Canada,
as well as the Agatha Award for Best Traditional Mystery
in the US - making the CI Gamache books the first
in history to win four Agathas, all in a row.
BURY YOUR DEAD has
also won both the Anthony and the Macavity Awards for
best Crime Novel of the Year - as well as the Dilys Award,
as the book the mystery bookstores most enjoyed selling
in 2010. It has also been nominated for a Barry and
was named a London Times Book of the week, debuting on
the UK bestseller lists.
As
well, BURY YOUR DEAD
was named by the American Library Association
as the Best Mystery of 2010. It has made a
number of other BEST OF 2010 lists:
Amazon.com (book and audio)
Kirkus Review
Publisher's Weekly
Publisher's Weekly Audio
The Globe and Mail
The Chicago Tribune
The Halifax Chronicle Herald
Booklist When
BURY YOUR DEAD
was released in the US it immediately hit bestseller
lists, including:
The New York Times
USA Today
Entertainment Weekly
American Bookseller's Association
I'm
often asked two questions: should the books be read in
order? And, what is the order?
Both
excellent questions. At the risk of appearing to want
you to buy more books let me say that while it's not
necessary to read them in any particular order (they're
designed to be self-standing) there is quite a strong
character development arc. I think you'd enjoy the books
even more if read in order.
Now,
here's the order, from the first to the most recent:
STILL
LIFE
A FATAL GRACE / DEAD COLD
THE CRUELEST MONTH
A RULE AGAINST MURDER / THE MURDER STONE
THE BRUTAL TELLING
BURY YOUR DEAD
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
Some
of the books have different titles, as you might have
noticed. The publishers did this not, as you might suspect,
to be annoying but because they genuinely feel their
readers respond to different titles. I hope it's not
too confusing.
And
finally, a small note about the themes in my books.
They're inspired by two lines from a poem by WH Auden,
in his elegy to Melville. Goodness existed, that
was the new knowledge/his terror had to blow itself
quite out to let him see it.
How powerful is that?
My
books are about terror. That brooding terror curled
deep down inside us. But more than that, more than murder,
more than all the rancid emotions and actions, my books
are about goodness. And kindness. About choices. About
friendship and belonging. And love. Enduring love.
If
you take only one thing away from any of my books I'd
like it to be this:
Goodness
exists.
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