Crime and Parchment, Daphne Silver

 

Crime and Parchment:  A rare books cozy mystery by Daphne Silver

Started: July 28, 2024
Completed: July 31, 2024
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: Nobody

Review:

This is a beach book.  Don't expect too much of it, it is an easy, breezy read.  The mystery is decent and I have to admit that anything that addresses the Book of Kells is interesting to me (no matter how obliquely).  I'm not sure if I will continue to read the series.  The will they/won't they romance is not really to my taste and, well, how many mysteries can involve the Book of Kells when set in Maryland?

All The Devils Are Here, Louise Penny

 

All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny is the next book in the Armand Gamash series.

Started: 12/5/2022
Completed: 12/11/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My Parents

Review:

Once again, Penny delivers.  This book had a little more action then I like.  It also plucked at heart strings which I kind of realized from the start.  Putting Gamash in Paris can only be for some deeper look at Daniel's character.  Yes, Annie is having a baby, but that immediately felt like a pretense.  Penny did pull at heart strings and she plucked rather unendingly leaving me emotionally wrung out by the end.  That isn't all bad.

Glass Houses, Louise Penny

 

Glass Houses by Louise Penny is the next book in the Armand Gamash series.

Started: 10/19/2022
Completed: 10/23/2022
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My parents

Review:

This book fits well in the series and once more takes us to Three Pines which, despite being a tiny town, is a hub for unlawful activity.  Ruth was fleshed out some more and the comforting presence of many of the other denizens of Three Pines made itself known.  I really like that Gamash lives in Three Pines now and I really like the idea of a "conscience."  The concept of conscience, responsibility, guilt, and punishment are all examined in this book and there is no doubt about the fundamental components of the characters which shine through in new and surprising ways in this book.  Gamash seems so very real to me at times, that I have to remind myself that this is a work of fiction.

A Great Reckoning, Louise Penny

 

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny is the next Armand Gamache novel.

Started: 7/19/2022
Completed: 7/26/2022
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: My Parents

Review:

This book returns to Three Pines and provides the explanation for the three trees that gave the village it's name.  That part is pretty wonderful.  The rest, well, I dunno.  I would not really call this book a mystery (though it is), it is more an examination of loss and abuse.  This sounds more unpleasant then it actually is, but be prepared--the road is bumpy.  I can only barely recommend this book as it was hard for me to enjoy significant portions of it.  I truly hope that this is the end of Gamache trying to deal with the corruption he is constantly trying to root out of everywhere he goes.  Unlikely.

The Beautiful Mystery, Louise Penny

 

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny is the next book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series.

Started: 6/11/2022
Completed: 6/15/2022
Recommendation: Mild recommendation
Recommended By: My parents

Review:

I am consistently annoyed by how Penny goes after her characters.  The endless attack on Gamache seems stale and the latest feint is nothing less than annoying.  The step off into the monastery gives time for Peter to spend his penance  away from Three Pines, but it feels a bit like I have spent a similar (likely needless) penance as well.  Since Penny has decided that it would be "unrealistic" for a group of people to just like each other and work together, she has found ways to undermine and attack the group through the last couple of books.  I hope this is the end of it.  This book did not leave me upbeat.  The information about Gregorian chants was far more interesting then I would have expected.

Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny

 

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny is the next Inspector Gamash novel.

Started: 10/22/2021
Completed: 10/28/2021
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Recommended By: My Parents

Review:

I liked this book better than the last, which had me worried.  The idea of Gamash as an action hero is a little hard to wrap my head around and I don't think Penny intended that, but it comes off that way (of course contrasted repeatedly with his fear of heights).  The mystery in this novel was many fold and it is nice that this novel was layered among several characters, several subplots, and several locations.  As the book began I was worried that Three Pines would be abandoned, but that did not happen and familiar characters returned.