Glass Houses - Louise Penny

I am a devoted reader of Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series. The latest (#13) is Glass Houses.

Glass Houses opens in a courtroom with Gamache on the stand. "He knew perfectly well who the murder was. He was just a little afraid that something would go wrong. And a particularly cunning killer would go free." Well, I was immediately hooked! So many questions. The reader slowly learns what led to the case Gamache is testifying at.

A hooded figure dressed in black stands on the square in the pretty little off the beaten village of Three Pines - home to Inspector Gamache. He or she is not committing a crime, but doing nothing but standing there is all the more terrifying.

"The actual act of terror created horror, pain, sorrow, rage, revenge. But the terror itself came from wondering what what going to happen next. To watch, to wait to wonder, To anticipate. To imagine. And always the worst."

Gamache and a small, select group of officers are also running an operation that seems to have been almost a year in the planning. But what exactly that is, is only slowly made clear to the reader. Very slowly - which only kept me turning pages late in the night, eager to see where and what was at the end. Penny brings in elements from the a previous long running (and very current) storyline.

I love Penny's prose and the voice she has created for not just Gamache, but for every player in her books. Her mysteries are always intriguing, but it is the characters themselves that have me eager to see what is going on in their lives. It feels like settling in with old friends when I pick up the latest book. And settling into a village I'd love to live in. Penny's description of Three Pines says much:

"Some might argue that Three Pines itself isn't real, and they'd be right, but limited in their view. The village does not exist, physically. But I think of it as existing in ways that are far more important and powerful. Three Pines is a state of mind. When we choose tolerance over hate. Kindness over cruelty. Goodness over bullying. When we choose to be hopeful, not cynical. Then we live in Three Pines."

Another fantastic entry in this wonderful series. Read an excerpt of Glass Houses.