Still Life

Awards:

Anthony Awards

Barry Awards

'Three Pines is made up of good people, but one of us is festering.' The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships. Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines – a place so free from crime it doesn't even have its own police force. But Gamache knows that evil is lurking somewhere behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will start to give up its dark secrets…

"It's hard to decide what provides the most pleasure in this enjoyable book: Gamache, a shrewd and kindly man constantly surprised by homicide; the village, which sounds at first like an ideal place to escape from civilization; or the clever and carefully constructed plot."

– -Chicago Tribune

"Cerebral, wise and compassionate, Gamache is destined for stardom. Don't miss this stellar debut."

– -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Terrific. Like a virtuoso, Penny plays a complex variation on the theme of the clue hidden in plain sight."

– -Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A gem of a book."

– -Booklist (starred review)

Extraordinary Praise for STILL LIFE

"A stellar debut novel. The setting is entrancing… Well done!"

– -Deadly Pleasures

"A gem of a debut novel-clever, charming, with perceptively realized characters… and the enormously appealing Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. I can't wait for the next installment."

– -Deborah Crombie, author of Water Like a Stone

"An excellent, subtle plot full of understanding of the deeper places in human nature, and many wise observations that will enrich the reader long after the pages are closed."

– -Anne Perry, author of Long Spoon Lane

"Georges Simenon kept Maigret going for over a hundred books. It will be a delight for all of us who love detective fiction if Louise Penny can stay around long enough to do the same for Gamache."

– -Reginald Hill, author of The Stranger House

"Still Life is a masterpiece of a traditional drawing room mystery, repainted in the autumnal colors of the Canadian countryside. Louise Penny is a storytelling artist."

– -Julia Spencer-Fleming, author of To Darkness and to Death

"What a joy it is to discover a detective like Armand Gamache, strong, calm and charismatic, and at work on a good mystery in a believable setting."

– -Peter Lovesey, author of The Circle

"What a joy to read a crime novel written with such skill and integrity, strong on character and atmosphere… I couldn't put it down."

– -Margaret Yorke, author of False Pretences

"Still Life is a lovely, clever book and I hope I shall be reading a lot more by Louise Penny!"

– -Ann Granger, author of That Way Murder Lies