Louise Penny Author of The Brutal Telling About the Author: The Brutal Telling is Louise Penny’s fifth Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novel. The series’ debut, Still Life, which introduced readers to the quaint village of Three Pines and the distinguished sleuth who solves its mysteries, announced the arrival of a major talent, winning the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys Awards. Penny’s second and third novels, A Fatal Grace and The Cruelest Month, each won Agatha Awards for Best Novel in the tradition of Agatha Christie. Her fourth Gamache novel, A Rule Against Murder, has been named one of Booklist’s Top Ten Crime Novels for 2009. Penny’s bestselling mysteries skillfully savor the details of daily life in a small community inhabited by an attractive and unpredictable cast of idiosyncratic souls, while the character of the captivating and magnanimous Gamache prompted fellow crime novelist Reginald Hill to draw a comparison with Georges Simenon’s legendary Maigret. Born in Toronto in 1958, Penny began her career as a journalist and radio host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She believes that her years as a reporter, which took her across Canada from Thunder Bay to Quebec City and finally to Montreal, provided solid training for her work as a novelist. "A good interviewer rarely speaks, she listens. Closely and carefully. I think the same is true of writers." As his fans have learned, the same is true as well of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Louise Penny currently lives outside a small village south of Montreal, close to the American border, with her husband, Michael, and their two golden retrievers. Reviews Publishers Weekly Starred Review. When the body of an unknown old man turns up in a bistro in Agatha-winner Penny's excellent fifth mystery set in the Quebec village of Three Pines (after Jan. 2009's A Rule Against Murder), Chief Insp. Armand Gamache investigates. At a cabin in the woods apparently belonging to the dead man, Gamache and his team are shocked to discover the remote building is full of priceless antiquities, from first edition books to European treasures thought to have disappeared during WWII. When suspicion falls on one of Three Pines' most prominent citizens, it's up to Gamache to sift through the lies and uncover the truth. Though Gamache is undeniably the focus, Penny continues to develop her growing cast of supporting characters, including newcomers Marc and Dominique Gilbert, who are converting an old house—the site of two murders—into a spa. Readers keen for another glimpse into the life of Three Pines will be well rewarded. Library Journal Having won numerous mystery prizes, including the prestigious Arthur Ellis and Anthony awards for her debut, Still Life, Canadian author Penny has only gotten better with each succeeding novel. Her fifth in the series is the finest of all. Featuring series protagonist Chief Inspector Gamache, this literary mystery explores the ways in which sins of the past have a way of resurrecting themselves, wreaking havoc upon their perpetrators, and, unfortunately, the innocent. Thus, when a hermit is slain in the woods near an isolated village in rural Quebec, secrets surface, unmasking characters who have adopted benign personae to conceal their questionable past deeds. Fortunately, sagacious Gamache possesses the acumen to peel away the layers of deceit and to expose the truth. VERDICT This superb novel will appeal to readers who enjoy sophisticated literary mysteries in the tradition of Donna Leon.—Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law, PA Kirkus Reviews Chief Inspector Gamache of the Canadian Surete is again called to restore order to the tiny Quebecois hamlet of Three Pines. Olivier and Gabri, gay owners of the Bistro and B&B, insist they that they don't know the dead man and can't imagine how he came to be lying on their floor. That's not quite the truth, but it's merely the setup for the first of many surprises. The real story will unravel for Gamache and his subordinates Beauvoir and Lacoste in startling ways. These include the discovery that the corpse has been moved three times by two different people; the return of a father declared dead over 20 years ago; a word woven into a spider's web; and the disclosure of several wood carvings emanating evil that require Gamache to fly to British Columbia and inspect totem poles. Priceless antiques sequestered in a hermit's cabin and sorrowful tales of Czech citizens cheated of their belongings will come to light before Gamache, to his considerable distress, will have to arrest a friend. Penny (A Rule Against Murder, 2009, etc.) is a world-class storyteller. If you don't want to move to Montreal with Gamache as your neighbor-or better yet, relocate to Three Pines and be welcomed into its community of eccentrics-you have sawdust in your veins, which must be very uncomfortable. Author Website: http://www.louisepenny.com/ Author Interviews: Zoomer Magazine http://www.zoomermag.com/entertainment/a-q-a-with-louise-penny.html Author Profile: http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=8086 Author Reading: A podcast interview is available through the following link: http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/86750/ Book Excerpt http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312377038&m_type=4&m_contentid=13207#cmscontent Discussion Questions http://www.louisepenny.com/graphics/reading_group_questions_lpenny.pdf http://us.macmillan.com/BookCustomPage.aspx?isbn=9780312377038&m_type=4&m_contentid=16717#cmscontent