The Nature of the Beast

The latest Louise Penny--reading her is like the very best kind of meal and dessert rolled into one. She is such a fine craftswoman with her writing and the characters never cease to evolve and thus sustain my interest. Set once again in the tiny East Townships village of Three Pines, a local boy who tells too many tall tales opens a can of worms when he discovers something in the woods that someone--maybe several some ones--will kill to keep secret. The story of a missile launcher of mythical proportions being hidden in the Canadian woods seemed so far-fetched, that I was surprised to find in the Author's note that it was based on a real event.
Gamache has received numerous offers to give up his early retirement--come back to the Surete as head of the major crimes unit is just one of these. What is to be "next" in his and Reine-Marie's life? She also gave up an esteemed career. The door is left open to see what the future holds, even as we see Gamache letting go of his former role as head of homicide and allowing those he trained, Lacoste and Jean-Guy, to carry on as he taught them--with compassion for the victims, curiosity about the perpetrators, and thinking as the major tool for solving the puzzles.
Everyone has secrets it seems. We continue to learn more about the mad poet, Ruth, and the local grocer, Monsieur Beliveau, gets some development for the first time. Jean-Guy and Annie have a happy surprise that makes the moral dilemma faced by Gamache towards the end of the story all the more terrifying. I have been hooked since I read the first book in this series, Still Life, and Penny just never disappoints.