Review of THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY by Louise Penny

 2.5 Stars

This is the eighth book in the Inspector Gamache series. In my review of the previous book, I mentioned that the murder cases in these books have become a secondary interest. I find myself more intrigued with what is happening with the residents of Three Pines. Then this book appears and it has no connection whatsoever to these villagers.

This novel is a locked-room mystery of sorts. It is set in the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups in the wilderness of Quebec. The monastery is home to cloistered monks who have taken a vow of silence, though they have become world-famous for their Gregorian chants. The renowned choir director, Frère Mathieu, is found murdered so the monastery doors have to be opened to admit Gamache and Beauvoir so they can find the killer and restore peace and harmony.

The murder mystery is lacklustre. The motivation is unconvincing and once the murder weapon is identified, the identity of the killer is obvious. Given the makeup of the monastic community, it is also not difficult to pick out the monk who stands out from the rest.

The twist in the plot is the sudden arrival of Francoeur. Gamache’s arch-nemesis. Francoeur comes across as a cartoon villain. He has so much to lose but he makes a dramatic entrance at a secluded monastery to set in motion his revenge plot?! He’s the Chief Superintendent of Quebec’s police force, but he has unlimited time to waste? Gamache’s problems with his superiors are becoming tiresome. Surely it’s time for him to take some decisive action.

Beauvoir’s struggles with addiction to pain killers are unconvincing. He has been off drugs for three months and is finally in a relationship with his beloved Annie, but he suffers such a sudden, precipitous decline? His reactions, almost murderous, to Gamache are over-the-top. That melodramatic ending is off-putting.

Penny always includes cultural information, this time about Gregorian chants. Some of this is often interesting. This time, however, I was disappointed. Are we to believe that the erudite Gamache doesn’t know that St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music? Surely he would have encountered John Dryden’s poem “Song for St. Cecilia’s Day” in his education at an elite British university. And then there’s the incorrect interpretation of Pontius Pilate’s “Ecce homo” (“Behold the Man’”) which Penny uses as a central motif. Penny would have been better served to reference “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar with its repetition of “He's a man, he's just a man.”

I’m listening to these books because they are easy to follow. But no one bothered to correct the reader’s pronunciation of Francoeur? He’s never heard the French word coeur? Francoeur is not Fransieur!

Though I’ve not been overly impressed with any of the books, this one is probably my least favourite.