Review AND Giveaway - Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny

Oh my goodness! Why have I not read Louise Penny before now?! I loved this book and literally could not put it down! (To be entered to win a copy courtesy of The Miami Book Fair International, leave a comment on this review)

Bury Your Dead is the 6th book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series.

Detective Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is hoping to recover from his horrific last case that left him both physically and mentally wounded. He has come to Québec City to stay with his mentor Émile Comeau and heal. It is winter in Québec and Carnaval  is on, but Gamache instead seeks out solitude in the library of the Literary and Historical Society - an English bastion in a French dominated city and  province. The Lit and His tries to maintain a low profile, but that is shattered when a well known local archaeologist, bent on finding the lost body of Quebec's founding father, is found murdered in the basement of the library. Inspector Gamache reluctantly agrees to consult.

The hidden village of Three Pines is a setting for many of the previous books in this series. Gamache has sent Olivier, a local bistro owner, to prison for the murder of a local hermit, but receives letters every day from the man's partner proclaiming that a mistake has been made. Gamache, already second guessing himself,  decides to send his deputy Jean-Guy Beauvoir, also on leave from the tragic last case, to unofficially re investigate the case.

This was my first introduction to this marvelously fascinating lead character. Gamache is wise, introspective and human. In addition to nearly losing his own life in his last investigation, he did lose members of his team. The one who lives in his head every day is Paul Morin.

Je me souviens, thought Gamache. The motto of Québec. The motto of the Québécois. I remember. That was the problem. Always the problem. I remember. Everything."

As Gamache works his way through the murder at the Lit and His, Morin's voice is always in his head. Snippets are revealed and more as Gamache moves forward, a little bit at a time.

Every school age child in Canada has studied Samuel de Champlain, known as the founding father of New France - Québec.  But, Champlain's final resting place and some details about his life have never been firmly established. Penny has brought the mystery of Champlain into the mystery of Bury Your Dead, weaving intriguing historical detail into her fictional tale. The political atmosphere of Québec is captured with much discussion surrounding the Separatist movement for Sovereignty. I enjoyed reading the descriptions of Québec City very much, as I have visited many of the places described.

Penny has written an incredibly detailed, thoroughly engrossing mystery that successfully includes historical and political subplots. The odd little village of Three Pines is filled with quirky characters that I look forward to knowing better. But it is the characters, their thoughts, feelings and emotions that made the book for me. Just superb.

Bury Your Dead is a fitting title on so many levels. Gamache must put the past to rest before he can move, as do many of the characters in the book.

Louise Penny has joined the list of my favourite mystery authors. Fans of Peter Robinson would enjoy this author.

Louise Penny will be appearing at The Miami Book Fair International
on Sunday November 21, 2010. I wish I could be there to see her!

"The books are coming.

And the readers and writers will follow, as they do by the hundreds of thousands every year for the Miami Book Fair International, an eight-day literary party in November.
Among the noted authors who have already confirmed are Margaret Atwood, Al Gore, Barbara Kingsolver and Ralph Nader.

The Fair, in its 26th year, will open Sunday November 8th with the popular Evenings With… series, featuring six nights of readings and discussions with noted authors from the United States and around the world.


On Friday, the Street Fair gets under way. The highlight of the Street Fair is the Festival of Authors, with more than 350 authors reading and discussing their work, including the Latin American and Spanish authors who participate in the IberoAmerican Authors Program. Thousands of South Florida schoolchildren will help kick off the Street Fair, making the trip downtown Friday to hear authors and participate in Children’s Alley activities, including theater, arts-and-crafts, storytelling and readings by children’s book authors. Comix Galaxy is back this year, with a school of comics on Friday and a new section just for kids and teens, as well as presentations over the weekend by renowned graphic novelists and illustrators.


During Street Fair weekend, more than 250 publishers and booksellers exhibit and sell books, with special features like the antiquarians, who showcase of signed first editions, original manuscripts and other collectibles.

The first Miami Book Fair International, founded by Miami Dade College and community partners, took place in 1984. Since then it has been recognized as the nation’s finest literary festival. In 2001, the Fair became part of the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College, a cultural and academic initiative that promotes the advancement and appreciation of literature throughout the year."

And it is with thanks to The Miami Book Fair, that I have a copy of Bury Your Dead to giveaway. Open to US and Canada, no po boxes please. Ends Sat. Nov 13 at 6 pm EST. Simply comment to be entered.