The Beautiful Mystery
by Louise Penny
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Starred review – Publisher’s Weekly
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Starred review – Booklist
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Starred review – Library Journal
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Winner – Agatha Award for Best Mystery Novel, 2102
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Winner – Anthony Award for Best Crime Novel, 2013
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Winner – Macavity Award for Best Crime Novel, 2013
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Named one of the Top 10 Crime Fiction Novels of the Year by Booklist
Hardcover: 373 pages
ISBN: 9780312655464
Publisher: Minotaur
Date: 2012
SYNOPSIS:
No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, hidden deep in the wilderness of Quebec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. They grow vegetables, they tend chickens, they make chocolate. And they sing. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient chants whose effect on both singer and listener is so profound it is known as “the beautiful mystery.”
But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery’s massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. One of the brothers, in this life of prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.
SUBJECTS:
Murder investigations, Monks, Monastic life, Singers, Music, Singing, Religious life, Power struggles
“Penny writes with grace and intelligence about complex people struggling with complex emotions. But her great gift is her uncanny ability to describe what might seem indescribable – the play of light, the sound of celestial music, a quiet sense of peace.” –
New York Times
“With enormous empathy for the troubled human soul—and an ending that makes your blood race and your heart break—Penny continues to raise the bar of her splendid series.”
–People Magazine
“Excellent….a captivating whodunit plot, a clever fair-play clue concealed in plain view, and the deft use of humor to lighten the story’s dark patches. On a deeper level, the crime provides a means for Penny’s unusually empathic, all-too-fallible lead to unearth truths about human passions and weaknesses while avoiding simple answers.” –Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)
“…This heart-rending tale is a marvelous addition to Penny’s acclaimed series.” –Library Journal (starred review)
“The Beautiful Mystery is an ingenious, sinister new novel.” –
Country News
Starred review – Publisher’s Weekly