Rated of 5
by Liz GG (South Pasadena, CA) A delight, not your usual murder mystery
Louis Penny’s, A Trick of the Light, is the seventh in her series set in Three Pines a fictitious small town near Montreal. This is a new author for me and I loved the book. Penny is a skilled writer and has crafted her story so that it can stand alone. Unlike many mystery series that depend on a major detective, in this case Chief Inspector Gamache of the Surete du Quebec, this writer has created a montage of several characters as part of the investigative staff and the members of a small Canadian town. Indeed, I was more interested in the psychological development of Clara and her husband as well as Inspector Jean Guy Beauvoir, Gamache’s assistant than in the actual murder. When the book ended, I wanted more. I am now going to read the rest of the series.
Rated of 5
by Linda L. (Saint Louis, Missouri) My thoughts on Louise Penny's A Trick of the Light
This is my first time reading a Louise Penny book so I came to it with no preconceived expectations. Overall I found her to be quite good at writing, certainly a master of nuance, innuendo, and subtlety with this particular book. Maybe the subject/theme was a little esoteric, but still the characters were well drawn and interesting. I enjoyed the fact that so many of the characters were suspects of the murder, the perpetrator could have been anyone of several persons. The book is intelligently written, Ms. Penny did an excellent job of research on this story and provided a good eye into the world of art dealers and artists in general. My small quibble with this book comes from the fact that I have not read previous books in this series, and there is an abundance of references to, what I presume to be, the prior book in the series. The events in the previous book seemed to be critical to an underlying part of this book. I felt like I was not in on it because I did not read that book. There is an issue between Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvois that is directly related to what took place in the prior book. I realize that series books will usually relate back to previous books just to make a first time reader get a little history of the main characters but what happened in a prior book is often not a crux of the current story. Anyway, it's a small thing and might only bother me. I want to know more about what happened in the last book, so I will go out and buy the book. Hummm, maybe that is the point.
Rated of 5
by Cecilia Z. (Montclair, New Jersey) Returning to Three Pines
I was excited to read the latest installment in this mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Gamache - it felt like going back to a special place and catching up on the lives of the unique people who live there. The fact that it was a mystery was almost secondary to finding out what has happened in Three Pines since the last book in the series. In that regard, the book does not disappoint, although in the end it does raise more questions than answers, with uncertainty for several of the characters. The mystery itself was not as interesting as some of the earlier books, but still entertaining, although you begin to wonder how many people can be murdered in one small village!
Rated of 5
by Marcia (Massachusetts) Not Penny's best work.
This mystery gets off to a clunky start, with the author awkwardly presenting background from the previous book in this series. Penny's hallmark is the emotional luminosity of her writing, but that was only spottily in evidence here and there in the book, particularly in the ending. I had a hard time believing that jealousies and feelings in the art world are as murderous as portrayed in this book, but I still feel drawn to her village of Three Pines and the characters who appear throughout her series.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Two Lives is a memoir written by international best-selling author, Vikram Seth. In this interesting and engaging book, Seth writes about his great...
read more
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
read more
Judge rules unused Borders gift cards to be worthless(May 23 2013) Borders owes nothing to holders of roughly $210.5 million of gift cards that had not been used by the time the bookstore chain shut down, a Manhattan federal...
Full Story
of 5
by Liz GG (South Pasadena, CA) 
of 5
by Linda L. (Saint Louis, Missouri) 
of 5
by Marcia (Massachusetts) 
