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Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder. No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter--and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death. When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Quebec, is called to show more investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder--or brilliant enough to succeed? With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself. show lessTags
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BookshelfMonstrosity I Am Half-Sick of Shadows and A Fatal Grace are cozy mysteries set in small towns. In each, the victim is disliked by many; thus, many have motives to kill. It is up to the ingenious protagonists to solve the crime.
Littlemissbashful Both books feature cerebral detectives in snowbound and idyllic village settings during the Christmas season - The stories take place within close knit communities with hidden secrets and unsympathetic victims. Both have a full supporting cast of characters including various 'eccentrics', feisty old ladies, flaky artists, gay hoteliers, suspect clergy and village scapegoats etc.
Member Reviews
The village of Three Pines seems like an idyllic retreat located just a drive away from bustling Quebec. But the beautiful scenery and warm hospitality apparently don’t insulate the town from violent crimes. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec is once again called in to investigate the murder of socialite CC de Poitiers. What is especially unusual about this case is the murderer’s weapon of choice; CC has been electrocuted on the ice during a curling match with the entire town in attendance.
There is so much that I loved about this book. The descriptions of the setting totally immerse you in this winter world in a small town. Just the descriptions of the brutal cold had me grabbing a sweatshirt while I read the show more book in warm California. And I loved the ‘Canadianness’ of this book! Curling on the pond – quaint and adorable. I loved the characters in this book, from the likeable hero, Inspector Gamache, to the very bitchy poet in residence Ruth. The characters are deep and complex – no stereotypes here! What is the real strength behind this story is the gradual reveal of the character flaws in everyone and the inherent good and generosity of people in general. This is my first Louise Penny story, but I will be definitely be reading the entire series from the beginning. It is rare that I give 5 stars for genre fiction, but this story was a pleasure to read and gave me lots to ponder after the last page. show less
There is so much that I loved about this book. The descriptions of the setting totally immerse you in this winter world in a small town. Just the descriptions of the brutal cold had me grabbing a sweatshirt while I read the show more book in warm California. And I loved the ‘Canadianness’ of this book! Curling on the pond – quaint and adorable. I loved the characters in this book, from the likeable hero, Inspector Gamache, to the very bitchy poet in residence Ruth. The characters are deep and complex – no stereotypes here! What is the real strength behind this story is the gradual reveal of the character flaws in everyone and the inherent good and generosity of people in general. This is my first Louise Penny story, but I will be definitely be reading the entire series from the beginning. It is rare that I give 5 stars for genre fiction, but this story was a pleasure to read and gave me lots to ponder after the last page. show less
Dead Cold is the second novel in Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series, set in a small village in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Unlike in the first novel, Still Life, it is an incomer to the village who is murdered this time - CC de Poitiers, a would-be lifestyle guru a la Martha Stewart, who is easily one of the most unpleasant people anybody is ever likely to encounter in their lives. If she sees an opportunity to hurt someone else with her words, she not only takes it, she glories in it. Her passive, diminished husband and her almost entirely absent (despite her enormous girth) daughter are the targets of her anger more than anyone else, but the villagers hardly know them. When the family joins the village for a breakfast show more and curling match just after Christmas, somebody takes the opportunity to dispatch the appalling CC in full sight of everybody, if anybody had been looking. But the method of murder is so outre, so odd, that even Chief Inspector Gamache has difficulty trying to determine how anybody could manage it. And at the same time, he is looking into another murder, one that takes place in Montreal at nearly the same time, as part of a tradition that he and his counterpart in the Montreal Police Department have developed whereby they exchange unsolved murder cases on Boxing Day and spend a few days trying to see the story from another angle; this year, Gamache is looking into the strangulation death of a street person, a crazy vagrant woman who has nothing but a box of certain letters of the alphabet and an old, worn-out necklace.... Another appealing novel for me, partly I'm sure due to my living in Quebec myself (and completely empathizing with the winters as described!), but also because I just very much like Gamache and his sidekick Beauvoir; the disastrous Yvette Nichol makes another appearance, and her presence rings in the introduction of an ongoing subplot, one more nefarious than the deaths being investigated. I can't wait to start the third book, I want to find out what happens to these people next! Recommended! show less
Once again, Louise Penny takes us to that idyllic village in the Pines outside Montreal, where we all want to go on our vacation to experience the beauty, the quiet, the inhabitants whom we are beginning to regard now as friends. In this 2nd of the Three Pines Mystery series, we even begin to like that eccentric old lady Ruth, the poet, the head of the volunteer fire department.
Inspector Gamache and his team must find out who killed a woman who was electrocuted on a frozen pond while watching the town's annual Boxing Day curling match.
The fact that absolutely no one in the town liked the victim, or even seemed to know much about her, makes the job even harder. Penny is beginning to hit her stride in this one, as she offers us several show more different possibilities for the perpetrator, introduces some new characters, and expands on the character of Armand Gamache that we met in her first book "Still Life."
When we finally figure it out (or did we?) there's still several chapters left, and we find perhaps we didn't get it right after all.
I listened to this in audio and it's such a treat to hear the bi-lingual give and take, the elegance of the Quebecois as they go about day to day life. To read (or listen) to these books is to fall in love with characters, a town, a region. I can't wait to read more. show less
Inspector Gamache and his team must find out who killed a woman who was electrocuted on a frozen pond while watching the town's annual Boxing Day curling match.
The fact that absolutely no one in the town liked the victim, or even seemed to know much about her, makes the job even harder. Penny is beginning to hit her stride in this one, as she offers us several show more different possibilities for the perpetrator, introduces some new characters, and expands on the character of Armand Gamache that we met in her first book "Still Life."
When we finally figure it out (or did we?) there's still several chapters left, and we find perhaps we didn't get it right after all.
I listened to this in audio and it's such a treat to hear the bi-lingual give and take, the elegance of the Quebecois as they go about day to day life. To read (or listen) to these books is to fall in love with characters, a town, a region. I can't wait to read more. show less
Another great mystery by Penny. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns to the small village of Three Pines after a truly odious woman is murdered at a curling match. All of the secondary characters from his team join him here including Jean Guy Beauvoir, who shows a particular hidden depth in this story. Also back (unfortunately) is the hideous Agent Yvette Nichol, who I was secretly hoping would get bumped off before the end of this book. Alas, she lives. What I enjoy the most about Penny's books are her wonderful characters. Not all are perfect, or even likeable, but all are real. And Gamache is a wonderful character, a gentle man who is thoughtful, intelligent, clever, and has a great love of people and life. There is a bit of show more confusion as to a particular plot thread at the end, but I think that was deliberate and a set up to continue the next book in the series to find out what happens. And of course, I shall. show less
"Dead Cold" (published in the US under the less pleasingly ambiguous and less accurate title of "A Fatal Grace") surprised me by being qualitatively very different from "Still Life", the first book in the series.
"Still Life" was a comforting, almost wistful, book in which a wise detective gently unravels the deceptions hiding a murder and, in the process, falls in love with the village of Three Pines and its inhabitants.
"Dead Cold" takes us back to Three Pines and the villagers who brought the last book to life. It captures their reactions to CeeCee, a new arrival so cold and cruel, that when she dies a dreadful death the village almost celebrates, as if a house had just landed on the Wicked Witch of the West. Once again, Chief show more Inspector Gamache is called to Three Pines to discover the murderer.
Despite having the same setting and characters as "Still Life" and a similarly complex plot, rolled out with at a similarly leisurely pace with regular pauses for food and philosophical reflection, "Dead Cold" sets off in a new direction. It sets this direction in a beautiful and compelling way, but I found the direction itself hard to accept.
As Chief Inspector Gamache says more than once, this case is about our beliefs and how they shape our actions and define our lives. In this book, the characters hunt not only for a murderer but for the numinous. Psalm 46 is quoted repeatedly
"Be still and know that I am God"
Gamache and a number of the other characters in the book actively seek the presence of God to provide them with direction or purpose. The God is not necessarily a Christian God. There is a nod towards other religions, including a translation of the traditional Indian greeting, Namaste, as "The God in me greets the God in you." Leonard Cohen is also enlisted in the search for the numinous, with a quote from the lyrics of Anthem:
"Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
Light becomes central to the discussion of the divine and the language used in the book is often truly luminous, glowing with beauty and joy. The passage in which Clara's painting of "The Three Grace's" is described is wonderful as are some of the physical descriptions of Three Pines.
Despite the beauty of the language and the skill of the exposition, I struggled with the strong influence of the divine in this book. At times, I felt as if I had wandered into a modern allegory, exploring a seeker's path through the tribulations a long life, rather than a murder mystery.
The struggle arose partly from my expectation that I WAS reading a murder mystery and not a parable and partly because I am so deeply unconvinced by the possibility of the personal experience of God in my Louise Penny led.
I resolved the struggle by accepting that I WASN'T reading a murder mystery but rather a novel that seeks to illustrate the possibility of belief as a source of good or evil that has a real impact on who we become. I allowed that the characters described here sincerely believe in the existence of the God they seek and the Three Pines is more than a place, it is an aspiration for what a community should be.
Taken on these terms, "Dead Cold" became a delightful read with a murder mystery and a little internal Police political intrigue added as seasoning.
I ended the book feeling glad that I'd heard Louise Penny's unique voice and wondering what intent is driving this series.
Adam Sims did a great job narrating "Dead Cold". Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/138..." params="color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%" height="300" iframe="true" /] show less
"Still Life" was a comforting, almost wistful, book in which a wise detective gently unravels the deceptions hiding a murder and, in the process, falls in love with the village of Three Pines and its inhabitants.
"Dead Cold" takes us back to Three Pines and the villagers who brought the last book to life. It captures their reactions to CeeCee, a new arrival so cold and cruel, that when she dies a dreadful death the village almost celebrates, as if a house had just landed on the Wicked Witch of the West. Once again, Chief show more Inspector Gamache is called to Three Pines to discover the murderer.
Despite having the same setting and characters as "Still Life" and a similarly complex plot, rolled out with at a similarly leisurely pace with regular pauses for food and philosophical reflection, "Dead Cold" sets off in a new direction. It sets this direction in a beautiful and compelling way, but I found the direction itself hard to accept.
As Chief Inspector Gamache says more than once, this case is about our beliefs and how they shape our actions and define our lives. In this book, the characters hunt not only for a murderer but for the numinous. Psalm 46 is quoted repeatedly
"Be still and know that I am God"
Gamache and a number of the other characters in the book actively seek the presence of God to provide them with direction or purpose. The God is not necessarily a Christian God. There is a nod towards other religions, including a translation of the traditional Indian greeting, Namaste, as "The God in me greets the God in you." Leonard Cohen is also enlisted in the search for the numinous, with a quote from the lyrics of Anthem:
"Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
Light becomes central to the discussion of the divine and the language used in the book is often truly luminous, glowing with beauty and joy. The passage in which Clara's painting of "The Three Grace's" is described is wonderful as are some of the physical descriptions of Three Pines.
Despite the beauty of the language and the skill of the exposition, I struggled with the strong influence of the divine in this book. At times, I felt as if I had wandered into a modern allegory, exploring a seeker's path through the tribulations a long life, rather than a murder mystery.
The struggle arose partly from my expectation that I WAS reading a murder mystery and not a parable and partly because I am so deeply unconvinced by the possibility of the personal experience of God in my Louise Penny led.
I resolved the struggle by accepting that I WASN'T reading a murder mystery but rather a novel that seeks to illustrate the possibility of belief as a source of good or evil that has a real impact on who we become. I allowed that the characters described here sincerely believe in the existence of the God they seek and the Three Pines is more than a place, it is an aspiration for what a community should be.
Taken on these terms, "Dead Cold" became a delightful read with a murder mystery and a little internal Police political intrigue added as seasoning.
I ended the book feeling glad that I'd heard Louise Penny's unique voice and wondering what intent is driving this series.
Adam Sims did a great job narrating "Dead Cold". Click on the SoundCloud link below to hear a sample.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/138..." params="color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true" width="100%" height="300" iframe="true" /] show less
The mystery itself left me cold as it was just too convoluted and improbable. Instead of 'Aha!' I was more like 'Huh?' after the big revelation. But this was a cozy mystery and the cozy was there in spades. Chocolate cake and fresh coffee by the fireplace while a Canadian winter storm howls outside? It doesn't come any cozier than that. And the character development might even eclipse my favorite cozy series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency . The sense of foreboding surrounding whatever agents Lemieux and Nichols were up to there at the end has me looking forward to the next book.
Wheels within wheels are turning -- I love how this series can be so cozy, so thoughtful, so sweet but never saccharine, but there's also this dark undercurrent that promises more larger story to come. In this book, we learn more about the choices Inspector Gamache made in the past, and see if he makes the same choice again. We also see the wages of child abuse, reflected again and again throughout generations. Sad, lovely, full of heart.
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Author Information
47+ Works 63,328 Members
Louise Penny was born in Toronto, Canada in 1958. She earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Radio and Television) from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1979. Before she turned to writing mystery novels in 2004, she was a journalist and radio host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in various cities across Canada for show more 25 years. She writes the Chief Inspector Gamache Novel series. She has won numerous awards including the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards for Still Life and the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel for A Fatal Grace. Louise's title, The Long Way Home, made the Hot Mystery Title's List for Summer 2014. Her titles The Nature of the Beast made The New York Times best seller list in 2015 and A Great Reckoning made The New York Times best seller list in 2016. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Fatal Grace
- Original title
- Dead Cold
- Alternate titles*
- A Fatal Grace (US) (US); Dead Cold
- Original publication date
- 2006
- People/Characters
- Armand Gamache (Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Quebec); Jean Guy Beauvoir (pronounced 'Jawhn Gee', with a hard 'G', Inspector, Gamache's second); Clara Morrow (talented, not yet 'discovered' artist in Three Pines); Émilie Longpré ('Em', one of Three Pines 'three graces', Gus' widow, mother of the late David); Gabri Dubeau (owner of the B & B in Three Pines); Olivier Brulé (owner of Olivier's Bistro, Gabri's life partner) (show all 37); Ruth Zardo (née Kemp, poet, chief of the volunteer fire department); Peter Morrow (Clara's husband, artist, Royal Academy of Canada member); Cecilia de Poitiers ('CC', hoping to make her 'Li Bien' idea trendy, toxic wife, mother, & neighbor); Kaye Thompson (one of Three Pines 'three graces'); Beatrice Mayer ('Mother Bea,' owns 'Be Calm yoga & meditation center, one of Three Pines 'three graces'); Myrna Landers (bookstore owner, former psychologist); Crie Lyon (CC & Richard's 14-yr-old daughter, bright, talented, fat, & bullied by her mother); Marc Brault (Chief Inspector of homicide, Montreal Metropolitan Police); Reine-Marie Gamache (Armand's beloved wife); Robert Lemieux (Agent, Cowansville Sûreté); Yvette Nichol (Agent, Quebec Sûreté, Narcotics, sent to Gamache by his boss); Isabelle Lacoste (Agent, Quebec Sûreté); Saul Petrov (commercial photographer hired by & sleeping with CC); Richard Lyon (clothing factory clerk, inventor, CC's severely henpecked husband); Eleanor Allaire (old friend of Em, Kay, and Bea); Billy Williams (extremely handy handyman); Michel Brébeuf (Gamache's immediate boss); Madame Latour (music teacher, Miss Edward's school for Girls); Yolande Fontaine (real estate agent who sold the Hadley Victorian house to CC & family); Elle (alcoholic bag lady in Montreal); Dr. Lambert (the emergency physician to whom CC was taken); Hanna Parra (local elected representative); Roar Parra (Hanna's husband); Dr. Sharon Harris (she's the coroner, Cowansville Hospital); Céline Provost (Agent, electrician with Sûreté technical services); Sylvain Francoeur (Superintendent | Gamache's big boss); Terry Moscher (director of the Old Brewery Mission in Montreal where Elle sometimes stayed); Father Marcel Nèron (the Gamaches' parish priest); Philippe Croft (a waiter at Olivier's bistro); Ari Nikolev (Agent Nichol's father); Rose Lévesque (one of the village children)
- Important places
- Montréal, Québec, Canada; Three Pines, Québec, Canada (village in the Eastern townships, a couple of kilometers from the US border); Ogilvy, 1307 Saint-Catherine St W, Montreal, Québec, Canada (department store); The Ritz-Carlton hotel, 1228 Sherbrooke Street West, on the corner of Drummond Street, Montreal, Québec, Canada; Miss Edward's School for Girls; the Morrow house, Three Pines (show all 17); Olivier's Bistro, Three Pines, Québec, Canada (in the heart of Three Pines); The Hadley House, Three Pines, Québec, Canada (now owned by the Lyons); Be Calm Yoga and Meditation Centre, St-Rémy, Québec, Canada; St. Thomas's church, Three Pines; Émilie Longpré's old clapboard cottage across the Three Pine village green from the Morrow house; Williamsburg, Eastern townships, Québec, Canada; Lac Brume, Eastern townships, Québec, Canada (Brome Lake); Royal Canadian Legion, rue Larry, Williamsburg, a five minute walk from Lac Brume (outpost); Gabri's bed & breakfast, Three Pines; Three Pines Volunteer Fire Department building, once a railway station, being used as the Sûreté team's situation room; the rental chalet where Saul Petrov is staying, 17 rue Tryborn, a turnoff from the Old Stage Road, near St-Rémy, Québec, Canada
- Dedication
- For my brother Doug and his family, Mary, Brian, Roslyn, and Charles, who showed me what courage really is. Namaste.
- First words
- Had CC de Poitiers known she was going to be murdered she might have bought her husband, Richard, a Christmas gift.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'I have everything.'
- Blurbers
- Hill, Reginald; Griffiths, Elly
- Original language*
- Englisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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