Typically I love a small town murder story. I love mysteries that are quaint and soft around the edges. This had all the necessities for me to love it. Somehow though, I struggled to engage with the text. I'm not sure if it is because of the use of french, which I don't speak. There doesn't seem to be enough of that to cause a problem, though. The characters were off to me. No one seemed very real. And the murder victim, I think this is the worst part for me, the murder victim just wasn't that sympathetic for me. As harsh as it sounds, I just didn't care that Jane died. I will certainly give this book away. ( )

http://2manybooks2read.blogspot.com/2... ( )

[Still Life] by Louise Penny is the first of her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache books, sited in Three Pines, Quebec, near Montreal. There is a lot to love about this mystery and I loved it all. I always enjoy a layered mystery, which this is, though not to a confusing extent, but I especially enjoy stories with characters who are 'characters.' As others have mentioned in their reviews of the Three Pines mysteries, in the other books in the series, we are treated to further character development and I am very much looking forward to it. Although I was fairly sure I knew who the murderer was about halfway through the book, the ending was still thrilling as the town's inhabitants all found out and reacted in their own unique ways. Just a treat to read and enjoy. ( )

I read good reviews of another volume in Penny's Three Pine series, so I decided to start at the beginning with Still Life. Many people seem to love this book but it didn't find a niche in my heart. Which is very odd, because I own and cherish several small-town tales. The beginning started off well enough. I was charmed by a village where "the only reason doors were locked was to prevent neighbors from dropping off baskets of zucchini at harvest time." Being a southern girl, I can so relate to that. But halfway through the book I began to struggle.
Some passages were a bit odd and I had to read them a few times to digest what Penny was saying. I even discussed this one with my husband: "The bells of the Eglise Ste Marie rang and echoed along the valleys, heard miles away, and felt deep in the earth, where creatures lived who might not otherwise, had Jane Neal herself not lived and been the sort of person she'd been." Creatures deep in the earth, are we talking snakes and weevils and pill bugs? And these creatures were pampered by Jane Neal? I wouldn't think that would endear her to the population of Three Pines.
Also irritating was that Penny would neglect certain characters (such as Yvette Nichol) for chapters at a time, so that when she did mention them again I had almost forgotten who they were. It made it difficult to remain in a character's mindset.
I'm really not a 'cozy' reader but I'm still open to giving Penny another read at some point down the road. ( )

A great start to what promises to be a great series. This is in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie's small town mysteries. What lies beneath the surface of a quiet, picturesque little hamlet...murder! Love the author's great details about the the town and the various characters...and she goes into great detail about the food, I was famished by the end of each chapter. And starving for more of Three Pines. ( )