What readers think of Bury Your Dead, plus links to write your own review.

Louise Penny’s Three Pines novels just keep getting better. "Bury the Dead" takes readers into a darker world than any of the five earlier novels in this series while keeping many of the same quirky characters and adding some delightful new ones. But this is Chief Inspector Gamache’s novel. Gamache must come to terms with making a wrong decision that costs the life of one of his agents. Set in Quebec City during a cold Canadian winter that mirrors the coldness Gamache feels in his soul, Penny goes beyond a well-written cozy mystery to a novel that deals with how we must face the reality of our weaknesses and learn to accept them along with our successes and our strengths.

Penny’s Gamache will remind readers of Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti. Like Leon’s novels, Penny’s depend on well-crafted characters and intricate plots rather than on violence and tough macho detectives. For such readers, "Bury Your Dead" will prove a most satisfying read.

Fans of a good mystery that keeps the reader engaged without resorting to gratuitous bloodshed will appreciate this story of a local historian's murder. The story is rich in characterization and setting, bringing to life tension between French and English interests in Quebec, the pain of an investigator dealing with loss of comrades, and the stark beauty of winter.

As the latest installment of the Armand Gamache Series, "Bury Your Dead" found our Chief Inspector in Quebec City with his mentor Emile trying to recover both his body and spirit after a horrific terror threat that left several in his department dead and many others wounded. To escape the horrors in his mind, the Chief finds himself drawn to the history books at the local English "Lit and His" Society. Unfortunately, the Lit and His also drew in Augustin Renaud, a rather unusual local, famous for his obsession in the search of the body of Quebec's founder, Samuel de Champlain. Renaud's search had ended, along with his own life, in the basement of the Lit and His. Being recognized by some of the officials, Gamache was asked to assist with this bizarre case and although reluctant at first, accepted the challenge and went to work trying to find out more about Renaud; why he would be in the basement of the Lit and His to begin with; and who would want him dead. The search sends him over centuries of time and along many unexpected roads.   

As the Chief was recovering in Quebec, his right hand, Inspector Jean Guy, was recovering in Three Pines. However, like the Chief, Jean Guy also found himself with a little project during his recovery time. As a favor to the Chief, Jean Guy was taking a fresh look at a murder case - a murder case that he himself helped to close there just recently. It didn’t take long for a closed case to become re-opened and matters thought certain to be questioned again.

This mystery is very well written with brilliant depictions of the magnificent Quebec winter landscapes and well developed characters as real as you and me. Penny combines picturesque descriptions with some Canadian history, fantastic characters, a full range of emotions, and a rock solid mystery that doesn’t hint to revelation until the very end. Though having read the prior books in this series could be of help with the background information, this book can certainly be read and enjoyed on its own. This is a truly fantastic series that I would recommend to anyone!

I picked up" Bury Your Dead" not knowing there was a previous book, "The Brutal Telling" - not really a good idea! It is well written, carefully plotted, moves patiently to its conclusion, but refers constantly to events from "The Brutal Telling" "Bury Your Dead" stands well on its own, if one is patient and willing to have the two plots revealed slowly and alternately.

Two murders are being investigated, one by Chief Inspector Armand Gamache in Quebec City, the other by his assistant Beauvoir in the village of Three Pines. Descriptions of Quebec in the deep snowy winter backgrounding the thoughts of the two men are marvelous.

Readers of Louise Penny's series will find this a very satisfying forward step in the Gamache books. Readers like myself, with no background,will be intrigued and mystified.

This was my first Louise Penny Book. Besides the Travelog of Quebec, there are separate mysteries playing out at the same time. I couldn't wait for them to be all tied together. Characters well defined and I may consider reading other books by this author.

I think this is the best of Penny's Gamache series. Her trump card all along has been Armand Gamache and his humane philosophy toward colleagues, victims, and most of all, the perpetrators of the crimes he solves. Fear, in Gamache's opinion, is the basis for murder, and once that is understood, the criminal becomes human, not evil. When Gamache solves a case, it's as much a cause for sadness as triumph because the murderer has become someone we understand and feel for.

In this book Penny has added the element of self-doubt—Gamache's realization that he is fallible and that this fallibility can have dire consequences. It's heartbreaking to see this good, kindly, competent man suffer so for being human. We know he will recover but we also know it will take time. And finally, the City of Quebec surely owes Penny a free round-trip indefinite stay in their city. This book is so full of Quebecois history, events, places to visit and eat, and she makes it all sound so lovely, I cannot doubt that readers will start planning vacations there. I know I am!

I thought this book was well written, lots of dialog that made it easy to know the characters. Quebec City is a delightful place and was portrayed in such a way that made it seem like your were there. It's been years since I was in QC - I enjoyed the time there with Ms. Penny. Let's have more Louise Penny books

The latest entry in Louise Penny's Three Pines mystery series finds Inspector Gamache in Quebec City recovering from serious injuries. I found this to be a highly compelling story. Previously Gamache has been like Poirot--a man who notices everything and uses his mind to puzzle out the truth in each situation. This time he doubts himself. He is more vulnerable and so much more human.

He works alone trying to forget the recent past by delving into the long ago past. His research brings him in contact with the staff of the English Literary and Historical Society. They soon ask for his help in uncovering the truth about the death of a man found buried in a shallow grave in their basement.

The story is set in the depth of the brutal Canadian winter. The backdrop for the story is the conflict between the English minority hanging on to a life style that is slowly being eroded and the separatists in this French province.

Inspector Jean Guy Beauvoir is recovering in Three Pines. Gamache has him quietly looking into the results of their last case in the isolated village. The inspector soon learns what his chief has known all along. Three Pines is no ordinary place. Here he too, finds peace of mind and a sense of belonging sorely missing in his life.

I highly recommend Bury Your Dead to mystery fans. The series is well written and has engaging characters. I would not choose this for my book club because I don't see a lot to discuss. Read it and enjoy!