No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.”
But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery’s massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec.
There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.
Hank says:
"A remote monastery in Quebec is the setting for this closed-environment mystery featuring Inspector Gamache and his associate Jean-Guy Beauvoir. It takes some time for the policemen (as well as the reader) to begin to distinguish between the reticent monks. Eventually, they discover the discord between those who want to continue the practice of isolation from the outside world and those who want to pursue the much-needed income that would be available from extending their worldly venture into performing Gregorian chants. This is paralleled by the political strife within the Surete that the series characters must deal with. The Beautiful Mystery is the third of Penny's books I've read, and each has had a little something extra that transcends the average police procedural."
New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny, one of the most acclaimed crime writers of our time, will read from and sign her new book The Beautiful Mystery (Minotaur), volume eight in her beloved Chief Inspector Gamache series.
“Louise Penny has crafted an almost perfect crime—haunting, puzzling, brilliant and indeed a most beautiful mystery. Chief Inspector Gamache is one of my favorite characters in fiction. Here he must penetrate a cloistered monastery deep in the northern woods of Quebec, where a murdered monk is his ticket to get in. This is a tour-de-force for Penny, and a thrilling, intelligent read.” —Linda Fairstein
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