A Fatal Grace is number 2 in Louise Penny's series of detective novels. Again, set in Three Pines, Quebec, the novel centers around Detective Gamache and his team of investigators.
During a Christmas curling competition in the village CC de Poitiers, a recent resident of the village, is murdered. She was not well received by the villagers and, consequently, any number of them could have committed the murder.
Christmas celebrations were magical in Three Pines, but when CC berated her daughter, Crie, for singing too loudly at the Christmas Eve service, the residents were outraged and angered. It was the next day that CC was electrocuted in a well-devised plan that trusted in CC's obsessive compulsive behaviour to be perfect and have things around her be perfect.
Concurrently while investigating CC's death, Gamache was working on the death of a vagrant on the streets of Montreal. Could they possibly be connected. As he puts together the clues, he realizes just what that connection could be and it gives him a bit of insight into the identity of the murderer(s).
Central to the story is a box found with the dead street person with the letters B, K, L. M, and C. There was also the phrase B KLM. The letters could stand for words or be an anagram. Once this mystery is solved, so will the connection between the homeless person and CC.
Grace refers back to the biblical graces of faith, hope, and charity and are usually depicted as young women. However, Claire, one of the villagers who was introduced in the first novel and who has a painting studio in her house, sees them as persons who have aged and endured pain. She paints them as Em, Kaye, and Mother Bea, three elderly, but wise women of Three Pines. From there we begin to suspect from the title that one or all may be connected to the murder.
Penny brings into the cast numerous characters that all have motive and opportunity, including Saul Petrov, a photographer with whom CC was having an affair and who was photographing CC at the time of her murder for an upcoming book.
It is difficult to write much more without giving away the solution and remainder of the plot. Suffice it to say that Penny engages the reader way into the late evening hours and creates twists and turns along the path to the resolution. Can't wait to read #3 in the series.
Before our trip to Australia, I tried to find a book that would give a good introduction to what we could expect to see and an insight into some of the history of the country. Having read Bill Bryson's books before, I thoroughly enjoyed his sense of humor and insight. I would loved to have found an Edward Rutherfurd book, but no such luck. And so it was In a Sunburned Country that would fill this role.
Reading the first chapter would scare anyone off as Bryson enumerates all the poisonous animals that one could encounter when traveling through the country side. With that admonition taken, Bryson embarks on a travelogue through the vast continent. His impressions about Australia are pretty "spot on." It was hard to imagine taking so long to travel from point A to point B until we spent hours on the coach doing it. His style, almost chatty, allowed so much information to be imparted without feeling overwhelmed.
In addition to the travel pointers and his discoveries in each of the areas to which he traveled, Bryson interspersed a lot of history in this book. It made so much more sense to have read about the design process of the Sydney Opera House when we were taking a tour there. His amazement of the size of Uluru really hit home when we saw the huge monolith.
One of the most well-known pieces of Australian history is the fact that the British used it as a penal colony. Bryson explains this in detail in the book. One of the lesser known facts about Australia known is the impact of the gold rush times. As we traveled through both Australia and New Zealand, the importance of these years became more clear. So much happened here because of the gold rush, including telegraph and transportation infrastructure. Not only did the economy boom, but the way the British viewed the country also was transformed.
The description of Canberra was enticing and I am sorry we did not get to visit the capital city. Here and in other cities the description of museums are complete and give insight as to what the highlights are. With Australia being a young country, the art and artifacts, save the Aboriginal art, are fairly modern.
Bryson is outspoken about the treatment of the Aboriginals and is so true. Although the government is trying to change the decades of mistreatment, change is hard to affect. With advances in medical support and wage and housing support, things may improve, but equality is not there yet.
The addendum on the Olympic Games was also interesting and perceptive.
In a Sunburned Country is a great read either before you go or when you return from a trip down under or if you want an understanding of the Land of Oz.
