Bury Your Dead: Summary and book reviews of Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny, plus links to an excerpt from Bury Your Dead and a biography of Louise Penny.

It is Winter Carnival in Quebec City, bitterly cold and surpassingly beautiful. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has come not to join the revels but to recover from an investigation gone hauntingly wrong. But violent death is inescapable, even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society - where an obsessive historian's quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly 400 years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it? Although he is supposed to be on leave, Gamache cannot walk away from a crime that threatens to ignite long-smoldering tensions between the English and the French. Meanwhile, he is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. "It doesn't make sense," Olivier’s partner writes every day. "He didn't do it, you know." As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive the terrible event of his own past before he can bury his dead.

BookBrowse

Bury Your Dead was a hit our First Impressions readers, garnering thumbs up from all 23 of them. Here's what some of them had to say:

Louise 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 (Carol G). Fans of a good mystery that keeps the reader engaged without resorting to gratuitous bloodshed will appreciate Bury Your Dead. 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 (Marta T). Murder mystery aficionados looking for more than a cozy or romantic mystery, who want to look into the depth of the human heart and its capacity to both wound and heal, would be well advised to look at Louise Penny's series (Nona F).  (Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).

Full Review (1284 words).

Media Reviews

Kirkus Reviews Starred Review. Gamache's excruciating grief over a wrong decision, Beauvoir's softening toward the unconventional, a plot twist so unexpected it's chilling, and a description of Quebec intriguing enough to make you book your next vacation there, all add up to a superior read.   Library Journal Starred Review. Reminiscent of the works of Donna Leon, P.D. James, and Elizabeth George, this is brilliantly provocative and will appeal to fans of literary fiction, as well as to mystery lovers.   Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Increasingly ambitious in her plotting, she continues to create characters readers would want to meet in real life.   Booklist Starred Review. Penny hits every note perfectly in what is one of the most elaborately constructed mysteries in years.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by Maggie P. (Mount Airy, MD)
Bury Your Dead
"Bury Your Dead" grabbed me from the very beginning and kept me involved until the end. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, as he tries to recover from a previous incident, takes the reader on a tour of Old Quebec. Along the way, the reader learns...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Alan K. (Westport, MA)
Bury Your Dead
Good characterization; excellent description of the many years-long stress and strife between the Quebecois and the Anglo Canadians; fun way to experience Quebec City; three mysteries solved ... all in all a fun book and, although part of a series,...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Karen L. (Antelope, CA)
The best of the Three Pines mysteries
Author Louise Penny has hit a new high with "Bury Your Dead." Always strong with character development, in this book she also proves to be a skillful storyteller, with an intricate plot that comes together beautifully at the end. The author...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Jane R. (Plantation, FL)
I want to go to Quebec
I really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more of Louise Penny's books. I liked the characters, but particularly liked the descriptions and history of Quebec. I will be planning a trip there soon - as soon as winter is over!

Rated of 5 by Ann D. (Clermont, GA)
Penny Scores Again
In Louise Penny's "Bury Your Dead", two homicides are solved and Inspector Armand Gamache struggles to recover physically and mentally from a terrorist attack that leaves him near death and with much guilt and despair over the loss of fellow...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Katherine S. (seaford, VA)
Nesting Dolls
Quite good and as involved as Nesting Dolls...3 mysteries within a mystery, just like walled Quebec City itself...as is mentioned in the book. Good pacing & character development and very atmospheric. Recommend this to all readers...mystery lovers,...   Read More

...17 More Reader Reviews

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