Review of A FATAL GRACE by Louise Penny

 3 Stars

This is the second book in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series set in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. 

An especially unpleasant woman, CC de Poitiers, is electrocuted on a frozen lake during a curling match near Three Pines.  Gamache and his team arrive to investigate.  There prove to be many suspects because CC, cruel and totally self-centred, is not liked by anyone, not even her husband Richard, her daughter Crie, and her lover Saul.  Gamache also takes an interest in the case of an unhoused woman who was strangled in Montreal. 

The number of coincidences bothered me.  Once again, several of the villagers are involved in the case.  Clara and Peter, for example, come into possession of an important clue.  Clara happens to encounter CC on an escalator and even talks to the indigent woman who is killed shortly afterwards.  And it’s obvious from the beginning that there will be a connection between the two deaths that Gamache is interested in solving. 

Another issue for me is the murder itself.  It is unbelievably complicated, a crime almost impossible to carry out because so many things could have gone wrong and so much had to go right.  That the movements of CC’s killer go unnoticed by virtually everyone makes no sense.  I guessed the murderer’s identity from the beginning, not because I’m particularly perceptive but because the motive is so obvious. 

I enjoyed revisiting the quirky residents of Three Pines.  The three old women (Émilie, Bea, and Kaye) are interesting additions.  However, CC’s characterization reminded me of Yolande from Still Life, the self-absorbed social climber with no redeeming qualities.  I was also upset by the fat-shaming descriptions of Crie:  “And beside him an enormous child was wearing a sleeveless sundress of the brightest pink. Her underarms bulged and flopped and the rolls of her waist made the skin-tight dress look like a melting strawberry ice cream. It was grotesque."

Gamache continues to be almost too-perfect:  endlessly patient and compassionate.  His efforts to rescue people from a burning building are clearly intended to portray him as a hero.  And Beauvoir’s worship does seem a little over the top:  at a crucial moment he thinks first of his love for his boss instead of his love for his wife?!  What also bothered me are Gamache’s conversations about “sightings” of God in unlikely places – and he’s not the only one who claims to have encountered God!  I must add too that I didn’t enjoy the re-appearance of Yvette Nichol who shows no personal growth. 

The author keeps referring to the Arnot case.  Gamache believes that his actions in that case have guaranteed that he will never be promoted above his current position.  There are suggestions of an anti-Gamache police conspiracy, the goal of which is to bring down the chief inspector.  Hints of betrayal by friends and team members are undoubtedly intended to create suspense in the following books.  I just hope this plotline is not drawn out for too long.

I can’t say that this second instalment is a dramatic improvement over the first book.  The plot with its troubling coincidences feels contrived, and characterization is not sufficiently nuanced.  Nonetheless I’m sufficiently interested to continue.  I’ve already downloaded the next book, The Cruellest Month, for listening.