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In this forum, readers, librarians, editors, booksellers and publicists have discussed Louise Penny’s books. We’ve talked about Penny herself, how we met her, and how we’ve all grown to see her as a friend. We’ve discussed the settings, whether Three Pines, Montréal, Québec or a monastery.
Nov 29, 2022 · Three Pines Series Discussion. Based on Louise Penny’s #1 New York Times bestselling novels, “Three Pines” from Amazon Prime Video and Left Bank Pictures stars Alfred Molina as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, a man who sees things that others do not: the light between the cracks, the mythic in the mundane, and ...
May 27, 2018 · The rosewater came from Madame Gamache, as they pressed together. The chief carried her scent like an aura, mixed with his own." Without further ado I'll go to the interview where I ask Louise Penny about how she came to scent her characters.
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- Education and CBC career
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Louise Penny, (born July 1, 1958, Toronto, Ontario, Canada), Canadian author of the best-selling mystery series that features Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Incorporating elements of a cozy mystery, the character-driven books are carefully plotted whodunits that explore such universal themes as love, friendship, loss, and r...
Penny’s parents were money managers. From a young age, she wanted to be a writer, and while growing up she read classic mystery authors such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. She studied radio and television arts at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University; Bachelor of Applied Arts, 1979) and later joined the Canad...
Encouraged by Whitehead, Penny quit the CBC in 1996 in order to write a novel. However, after struggling for five years to pen “the greatest historical novel ever,” she decided to try her hand at mysteries. According to Penny, she stopped writing for an imagined reader and instead focused on what she would like to read. She thus created characters whom she would befriend, and Armand Gamache was largely inspired by her husband. Not the typical world-weary and troubled detective, the cerebral Gamache is compassionate and kind. In addition, Penny based the book’s setting on her town of Knowlton, Quebec, Canada, and the surrounding area. After finishing the mystery, however, she was rejected by numerous publishers. Then in 2004 she submitted the book for the Debut Dagger award, a British crime-writing contest for unpublished works. Penny went to London for the ceremony, and, although her work placed second, she found an agent.
Still Life was published in 2005. The book centres on the death of a beloved former teacher in Three Pines, a quaint village outside of Montreal. Gamache and his team—including his second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir—soon realize that what appears to be an accidental death is murder. During the search for the killer, they meet an assortment of memorable villagers: married artists (Peter and Clara Morrow), a psychologist-turned-bookstore-owner (Myrna Landers), a cantankerous poet (Ruth Zardo), and a gay couple who own the local bistro and bed-and-breakfast (Gabri Dubeau and Olivier Brulé). During his investigation, Gamache discovers dark secrets while developing a fondness for Three Pines and its inhabitants.
A commercial and critical success, Still Life launched a hugely successful series. A number of subsequent books feature murders in Three Pines or nearby. However, even when the crimes are set in more distant locations, the quaint village and its residents are central elements of the novels as is the inherently decent Gamache, who eventually moves to Three Pines with his wife, Reine-Marie Gamache. While intricately constructed, the mysteries are, at their heart, character studies of flawed but sympathetic people. As Penny once noted, “Writing about murder doesn’t interest me.…I’m interested in what characters do and how they struggle.”
The series earned various accolades, including numerous Agatha Awards, and it sold more than 10 million copies in North America. A miniseries based on Still Life aired in 2013. Later books were the basis for the TV show Three Pines (2022– ), which starred Alfred Molina as Inspector Gamache.
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Penny typically released an Inspector Gamache book every year. She also wrote the companion novella The Hangman (2010) for a Canadian literacy program for emerging adult readers.
•Still Life (2005)
•Dead Cold (2006; also published as A Fatal Grace [2007])
•The Cruelest Month (2007)
•The Murder Stone (2008; also published as A Rule Against Murder [2009])
•The Brutal Telling (2009)
Penny teamed up with American politician Hillary Clinton, a former first lady and secretary of state, to write State of Terror (2021). A geopolitical thriller, it features a female protagonist and draws on Clinton’s experiences in government. The book received largely positive reviews and was a bestseller.
Jun 2, 2014 · The two couples rejoice in seeing one another at the Manoir. Gamache and Reine-Marie then learn from Madame Dubois that the whole family isn’t the Finney family—they are the Morrow family. Charles Morrow, Irene’s first husband, had died some time ago, and then she married Burt Finney.
Dec 5, 2022 · Penny describes it as “that light in the eye, to have hope that you can turn a life around”. Within a year of getting sober she met Whitehead. Within two years, she was married.
Jan 1, 2010 · The Hangman. Louise Penny. 3.70. 23,788 ratings1,860 reviews. On a cold November morning, a jogger runs through the woods near the peaceful Quebec village of Three Pines. On his run, he finds a dead man hanging from a tree. The man was a guest at the local Inn and Spa.
