a fatal grace / dead cold
Please note: A FATAL GRACE has also been published under the title DEAD COLD in some countries. The novel is exactly the same; only the title differs depending on the publisher and market where the book was released.
synopsis
Winter in Three Pines and the sleepy village is carpeted in snow. It’s a time of peace and goodwill – until a scream pierces the biting air. There’s been a murder.
Local police are baffled. A spectator at the annual Boxing Day curling match has been fatally electrocuted. Despite the large crowd, there are no witnesses and – apparently – no clues.
Called in to head the investigation, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache unravels the dead woman’s past and discovers a history of secrets and enemies. But Gamache has enemies of his own. Frozen out of decision-making at the highest level of the Surete du Quebec, Gamache finds there are few he can trust. As a bitter wind blows into Three Pines, something even more chilling is sneaking up behind him…
Agatha Award for Best Traditional Mystery, 2007 (USA)
Bestseller lists in the US, Australia and Canada
Remarkably, Penny manages to top her outstanding debut. Gamache is a prodigiously complicated and engaging hero, destined to become one of the classic detectives.
A highly intelliegent mystery. Penny's new title is sure to creat great reader demand for more stories featuring civilized and articulate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.
Gamache, a smart and likable investigator - think Columbo with an accent, or perhaps a modern-day Poirot....This is a fine mystery in the classic Agatha Christie style and it is sure to leave mainstream fans wanting more.
For all the perplexing mechanics of the murder, and the snowed-in village setting, this is not the usual "cosy" or even a traditional puzzle mystery. It's a finely written, intelligent and observant book. Imbued with a constant awareness of the astonishing cold, this perfect blend of police procedural and closed-room mystery finds its solution, as in the best of those traditions, in the slow unlayering of a sorrowful past.
Quebec's answer to Poirot and Morse
Compelling
A poetic and gifted writer.
Penny writes like a modern-day Agatha Christie, with a little Dylan Thomas thrown in for good measure. Her characters leap from the page, her plotting is sublime, the atmosphere she builds in a bitter Quebec winter in Dead Cold, completely chilling.
Surete Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is in danger of turning into a latter-day Hercule Poirot....The writing is superb. A magnificent read.
A wonderfully quirky, beautifully written story set amid the eccentric residents of charming Three Pines, Quebec. With DEAD COLD Penny has firmly established herself among the best in Canadian crime fiction....Like all the best Canadian fiction, DEAD COLD is a brilliant evocation of place. And like Gamache, you too will be drawn to Three Pines and to this work of magical realism masquerading as a cosy English mystery.
A beautifully crafted Christmas cracker of a novel. We're back in the charming Quebec village of Three Pines....The setting is wonderfully done, as are the characters. The solution is perfectly in tune with their psychology and there's plenty of evidence that Gamache will make a third appearance.
Louise Penny stunned the crime fiction world last year with STILL LIFE....Sooner or later the whole world will discover Penny. With a unique sense of timing, patience and subtle wit, Penny is able to create a whodunit that recalls those of Agatha Christie....Magically bringing the postcard village of Three Pines to life, she gives it innocence, allows a touch of evil to intrude and then brings in the outsider, the intriguing Gamache, to solve the crime.
The plots against Gamache made me feel like a pantomime audience shouting 'look behind you', while the unsympathetic characters are so vividly drawn that they, in turn, provoked sotto voce boos...
DEAD COLD is a richer, darker book, with humour and a sub-plot that builds on relationships only hinted at in her debut novel. The result is an engrossing read that will only add to the ranks of her readers.
Louise Penny received a great deal of praise from some very impressive sources for her first novel, STILL LIFE. After reading DEAD COLD, her second effort, I can safely say that much more praise is on its way….no mystery reader will regret the time they spend in the snowy village of Three Pines.
This is a wonderful novel, full of mystery. It is as deeply layered as snow drifting down upon snow. The cold will seep into your bones so wrap up warm and have a good hot drink at your elbow.
The Sunday Times, Culture Magazine, Audio Book of the Week, May 6, 2007
Named one of the best books 2007, Deadly Pleasures Magazine, USA
American Booksellers Association Book Sense, Notable Book, June 2007
Book List, Rising Star, June 2007
Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA) a 'Killer Book' for May 2007
Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA) bestseller, September 2007
Finalist for the 2007 American Library Association book of the year
Finalist for an AUDIE AWARD for BEST MYSTERY BOOK ON TAPE
