A world of curiosities

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
2022.
Language
English

Description

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAgatha Award Winner for Best Contemporary NovelChief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge. But something has.As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators’ lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines. But to what end?Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt them beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered and are now about to erupt?As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up. As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge. In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.

More Details

Contributors
ISBN
9781250145291
9781250887399
9781250145307
9781250145314
9798885784832

Discover More

Also in this Series

  • Still life (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 1) Cover
  • A fatal grace (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 2) Cover
  • The cruelest month (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 3) Cover
  • A rule against murder (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 4) Cover
  • The brutal telling (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 5) Cover
  • Bury your dead (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 6) Cover
  • A trick of the light: a Chief Inspector Gamache novel (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 7) Cover
  • The beautiful mystery (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 8) Cover
  • How the light gets in (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 9) Cover
  • The long way home (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 10) Cover
  • The nature of the beast (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 11) Cover
  • A great reckoning (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 12) Cover
  • Glass houses: a novel (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 13) Cover
  • Kingdom of the blind (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 14) Cover
  • A better man (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 15) Cover
  • All the devils are here (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 16) Cover
  • The madness of crowds (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 17) Cover
  • A world of curiosities (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 18) Cover
  • The grey wolf (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume 19) Cover
  • The Hangman (Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries Volume ) Cover

Author Notes

Loading Author Notes...

Similar Series From Novelist

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for series you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
The Sister Jane amateur detective stories offer well-formed characters, explorations of social issues, and a mix of humor and detection. Set in small-town Virginia, one of their central themes is the clash of traditional and modern cultures in a small village. -- Katherine Johnson
The Armand Gamache and Flavia De Luce mysteries are intelligent, character-centered, cozies set in small towns. Although the locales and time periods differ, the conversational tone and feel are similar. They also share casts of eccentric secondary characters as well as unique investigators. -- Becky Spratford
These mystery series by Canadian authors are both peopled by interesting characters and distinguished by comfortable settings - one in North Wales and one in the Canadian province of Quebec. -- Victoria Fredrick
Both starring intelligent detectives who rely on their intuition -- and an ability to get suspects to confide just a bit too much information -- to solve crimes, these two series also share a well-crafted style, despite being written decades apart. -- Shauna Griffin
The Richard Jury series, particularly the early books, share a number of similar features with Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries: they are clever police procedurals centered around a puzzle. They also focus on the relationships between a group of characters. -- Krista Biggs
Although both atmospheric and descriptive series have a gritty feel, the Quebec-based Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries also has a lyrical writing style. Both series star moody, introspective detectives who are easily as interesting as the crimes they investigate. -- Mike Nilsson
Readers who appreciate the character building in the Armand Gamache series will find much to love in the Reverend Clare Fergusson mysteries. Personalities are just as important as fingerprints when solving crimes in these intricately plotted, complex novels with a strong sense of place. -- Halle Carlson
Salvano Montalbano of Sicily and Inspector Armand Gamache of Quebec conduct investigations via their brilliant team leadership. Both series feature memorable supporting casts and tension mixed with humor, though Montalbano has more humor and Gamache features more gripping tension. -- Katherine Johnson
These evocative mystery series showcase the richly detailed environs and distinctive cultural milieu of New Mexico (Milagro Mysteries) and Quebec (Inspector Armand Gamache) in which confounding murders and other crimes are investigated by sympathetic detectives. -- Andrienne Cruz

Similar Titles From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for titles you might like if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
NoveList recommends "Hercule Poirot mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
The quality of mercy - Medhat, Katayoun
NoveList recommends "Milagro mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Adam Dalgliesh mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Flavia De Luce mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Penny Brannigan mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Chief Inspector Adamsberg investigations" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Salvo Montalbano mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Sister Jane Foxhunting Mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Reverend Clare Fergusson mysteries" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Perveen Mistry novels" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Simon Serrailler crime novels" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.
NoveList recommends "Rachel Getty and Esa Khattak novels" for fans of "Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries". Check out the first book in the series.

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Both Louise Penny and P.D. James write character-driven police procedural mysteries that explore moral ambiguity and the psychological causes and effects of crime. Their stories create a strong sense of place while the mystery's solution is slowly revealed. -- Merle Jacob
Canadian mystery authors Louise Penny and Gail Bowen offer a strong sense of place (in Quebec and Saskatchewan, respectively). Penny's police detectives have well-rounded personalities, with lives as interesting as that of Bowen's Joanne Kilbourn, a university professor. They feature interesting secondary characters, intellectual puzzles, and social issues alongside the crime. -- Katherine Johnson
Louise Penny offers contemporary versions of the classic detective novel popularized by Agatha Christie. If Penny's intelligent but intuitive detective and his skill at drawing information out of suspects appeal to you, you may want to try the novels of Agatha Christie, especially those starring Hercule Poirot. -- Shauna Griffin
Dexter writes puzzle novels that are as intelligent as Penny's, filled with the same attention to detail, cultural depth, and atmosphere. -- Krista Biggs
Susan Wittig Albert's amateur detective China Bayles lives in a town in Texas (Pecan Springs) as appealing as Penny's Three Pines, Quebec. Both towns are populated with a variety of engaging people and shops that lure the reader to visit again and again. -- Maureen O'Connor
Although William Deverell's books focus on trials rather than on police investigations, both are Canadian authors who write intricately plotted, witty, and suspenseful character-driven mysteries featuring intelligent and eccentric protagonists, well-developed characterization, and vividly atmospheric depictions of rural Canada. -- Derek Keyser
Both of these authors share the ability to create a sense of place and time period from just a few details. Their languidly-paced mysteries focus on both the story and the complex characters that they create. -- Krista Biggs
As they weave and then unravel their stories, both Deborah Crombie and Louise Penny bring to the fore the psychological complexities of human behavior in individuals and society at large, emphasizing personal relationships while constructing elaborate puzzle mysteries. -- Maureen O'Connor
Marc Strange and Louise Penny write complex police procedurals set in small Canadian towns. These slow moving stories are character driven and feature a large cast of secondary characters. The personal and professional lives of the sleuths are explored in these absorbing stories with a strong sense of place. -- Merle Jacob
The main characters in Elizabeth George's writing lead lives as complex and fraught as the people they are investigating. So too does Louise Penny portray her cast of recurring characters -- police investigators, regular "civilian" characters, and perpetrators. -- Maureen O'Connor
Giles Blunt and Louise Penny write complex police procedurals set in small Canadian towns. These character driven mysteries feature a strong male lead detective with an interesting secondary team. The plots build slowly as the personal lives and relationships of the police and the suspects are revealed. -- Merle Jacob
These authors' works have the appeal factors melancholy and leisurely paced, and they have the genre "police procedurals"; the subjects "police," "detectives," and "small town life"; and characters that are "introspective characters," "complex characters," and "flawed characters."

Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Two apparently unrelated events in the village of Three Pines thrust Armand Gamache, head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, deep into the past, leading to a confrontation with personal demons, internal and external. The first event is the appearance in the village of Sam and Fiona Arsenault, the children of a mother who abused them and whose murder was investigated by Gamache. Questions have remained for more than a decade about the roles of the children in their mother's death. Then a long-bricked-up room is discovered in the village, and when it's opened, a strange painting is found: a copy of a seventeenth-century masterpiece, The Paston Treasure, in which modern details and shorthand-like codes have been added to the original. Is the painting a veiled message to Gamache, a harbinger of approaching horror? To derail the onrushing demons, Gamache and his colleagues must burrow into a world of both curiosities and "festering secrets," remembering that "there is always another story . . . more than meets the eye." Finally, what they find, Gamache reflects, is like a story from the Brothers Grimm, "a tale of demons and witches, hidden rooms and unexpected saviors." For Penny, the novel is a narrative tour de force, drawing brilliantly on some dark moments in Québec history and leading Gamache and the residents of Three Pines to a hard-won, thoroughly unsentimental recognition that forgiveness is our most powerful magic.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Through 18 installments, the Gamache series has become a crime-fiction phenomenon, a favorite of readers across every category.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestseller Penny's virtuoso 18th novel featuring Chief Insp. Armand Gamache of the Québec Sûreté (after 2021's The Madness of Crowds) blends nuanced characterization with nail-biting suspense. Siblings Fiona and Sam Arsenault return to Three Pines more than a decade after Gamache investigated the bludgeoning murder of their mother, Clotilde. His inquiry revealed that Clotilde had prostituted her children, then 13 and 10, at the time of the killing. During the case, he met his future number two and son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, who came to a different conclusion than his own. Gamache stayed involved in Fiona's life, even aiding her graduate studies in engineering. The Arsenaults' arrival coincides with several murders, which seem connected to an unusual painting found concealed in a hidden room in Three Pines. It first appears to be a duplicate of The Paston Treasure, a cryptic 17th-century assemblage of items known as A World of Curiosities, but anachronistic elements, such as a digital watch, have been added. Penny adds crucial details about Gamache's backstory and satisfactorily resolves a plotline tease from earlier in the series. This tale of forgiveness and redemption will resonate with many. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Company. (Nov.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Powered by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In 1989, a young Armand Gamache was on the scene of a mass slaying when 14 women were killed at Montreal's École Polytechnique. It changed his life and propelled him into a career in homicide. Ten years later, while investigating Clotilde Arsenault's murder, Gamache recruited an angry, undisciplined officer, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Both events trigger current events in 2019. Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie, took Clotilde's daughter, Fiona, under their wing, although she and her brother, Sam, were involved in their mother's death. After Fiona graduates from the École Polytechnique, she and Sam head to Three Pines. Gamache sees an evil in Sam that he only ever saw in a serial killer in prison for life. However, it's a mysterious painting, bricked up in a house in Three Pines, that sends Gamache on a search into the past, looking into his own heart for the fears that threaten the people he loves. With newcomers to Three Pines, the Arsenaults' history, and the secrets hidden behind the wall, danger is closer than Gamache imagines. VERDICT Penny's 18th Gamache novel (after All the Devils Are Here) is intense as the detective digs deep into his own fears. The darkness in this intricately plotted story forces readers to search for contrasting moments of hope.--Lesa Holstine

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Powered by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

Welcome to Three Pines, the idyllic-seeming Canadian capital of murder. At the heart of Penny's series of mysteries set in the tiny Quebec town of Three Pines is the relationship between Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the empathetic and capable head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, and his headstrong second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, now also his son-in-law. Gamache has a talent for finding officers who've been languishing in their previous jobs and turning them into trusted allies, and Penny has frequently mentioned the way Beauvoir had been "banished to the basement" in an out-of-the-way bureau and that there was something "lean and feral…something dangerous" about him before Gamache swooped in and brought him to the homicide squad. Now, in her 18th installment, Penny flashes back to the case that brought the two men together. A woman named Clotilde Arsenault has been found dead in a remote lake, and Gamache shows up at the local detachment to investigate the case himself. Clotilde had two children, 13-year-old Fiona and Sam, 10, and it turns out she had been prostituting them. In the book's present-day strand, Fiona is graduating from college after having served time in prison for killing her mother; Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie, have supported her, almost folding her into their own family, but they've never trusted Sam, who will also be at the graduation ceremony. This chapter in Penny's chronicle of Three Pines contains all the elements that she sometimes divides up between different books: There's a cozy-feeling present-day mystery concerning a hidden room Fiona discovers by looking at the roofline of Myrna's bookstore, and the strange painting found inside; the harrowing story of how Gamache and Beauvoir cracked the case of Clotilde's murder; and a story of corruption within the institutions that are supposed to be protecting us. The plotting is complex and the characters as vivid as ever, but the opportunity to watch Gamache and Beauvoir's relationship develop is what makes this book one of Penny's best. Penny will have you turning the pages as fast as you can to see how she'll manage to tie everything together. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Powered by Syndetics

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Two apparently unrelated events in the village of Three Pines thrust Armand Gamache, head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, deep into the past, leading to a confrontation with personal demons, internal and external. The first event is the appearance in the village of Sam and Fiona Arsenault, the children of a mother who abused them and whose murder was investigated by Gamache. Questions have remained for more than a decade about the roles of the children in their mother's death. Then a long-bricked-up room is discovered in the village, and when it's opened, a strange painting is found: a copy of a seventeenth-century masterpiece, The Paston Treasure, in which modern details and shorthand-like codes have been added to the original. Is the painting a veiled message to Gamache, a harbinger of approaching horror? To derail the onrushing demons, Gamache and his colleagues must burrow into a world of both curiosities and festering secrets, remembering that there is always another story . . . more than meets the eye. Finally, what they find, Gamache reflects, is like a story from the Brothers Grimm, a tale of demons and witches, hidden rooms and unexpected saviors. For Penny, the novel is a narrative tour de force, drawing brilliantly on some dark moments in Québec history and leading Gamache and the residents of Three Pines to a hard-won, thoroughly unsentimental recognition that forgiveness is our most powerful magic.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Through 18 installments, the Gamache series has become a crime-fiction phenomenon, a favorite of readers across every category. Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2022 Booklist Reviews.
Powered by Content Cafe

Library Journal Reviews

In 1989, a young Armand Gamache was on the scene of a mass slaying when 14 women were killed at Montreal's École Polytechnique. It changed his life and propelled him into a career in homicide. Ten years later, while investigating Clotilde Arsenault's murder, Gamache recruited an angry, undisciplined officer, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Both events trigger current events in 2019. Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie, took Clotilde's daughter, Fiona, under their wing, although she and her brother, Sam, were involved in their mother's death. After Fiona graduates from the École Polytechnique, she and Sam head to Three Pines. Gamache sees an evil in Sam that he only ever saw in a serial killer in prison for life. However, it's a mysterious painting, bricked up in a house in Three Pines, that sends Gamache on a search into the past, looking into his own heart for the fears that threaten the people he loves. With newcomers to Three Pines, the Arsenaults' history, and the secrets hidden behind the wall, danger is closer than Gamache imagines. VERDICT Penny's 18th Gamache novel (after All the Devils Are Here) is intense as the detective digs deep into his own fears. The darkness in this intricately plotted story forces readers to search for contrasting moments of hope.—Lesa Holstine

Copyright 2022 Library Journal.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal.
Powered by Content Cafe

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Bestseller Penny's virtuoso 18th novel featuring Chief Insp. Armand Gamache of the Québec Sûreté (after 2021's The Madness of Crowds) blends nuanced characterization with nail-biting suspense. Siblings Fiona and Sam Arsenault return to Three Pines more than a decade after Gamache investigated the bludgeoning murder of their mother, Clotilde. His inquiry revealed that Clotilde had prostituted her children, then 13 and 10, at the time of the killing. During the case, he met his future number two and son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, who came to a different conclusion than his own. Gamache stayed involved in Fiona's life, even aiding her graduate studies in engineering. The Arsenaults' arrival coincides with several murders, which seem connected to an unusual painting found concealed in a hidden room in Three Pines. It first appears to be a duplicate of The Paston Treasure, a cryptic 17th-century assemblage of items known as A World of Curiosities, but anachronistic elements, such as a digital watch, have been added. Penny adds crucial details about Gamache's backstory and satisfactorily resolves a plotline tease from earlier in the series. This tale of forgiveness and redemption will resonate with many. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Company. (Nov.)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly.
Powered by Content Cafe

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.