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We come again to that idyllic anglophone Shangri-La in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Three Pines, where all seems well among the characters who live there. The openly gay couple who run the brasseries and bed and breakfast, the pair of women who live in a crowded cottage just out of town, poets, artists, and just plain folk. All are friends and all join in social activities with each other and seem content. The book opens just before Easter when the citizens of Three Pines are hiding painted wooden eggs for the children to find on Sunday. There must be breeding couples in the village, but they are well hidden, just as the eggs are. Once the villagers hid chocolate eggs, but the wild animals got to them and the children were bereft. Now they turn the wooden eggs in for the chocolate ones. A well-known medium is coming to stay at the B&B for the weekend. At least Gabri, one of the owners, claims she is Madame Blavatsky and will hold a séance after dinner at their establishment on the night of Good Friday. Some of the villagers won't come because they think it is blasphemy, but those who show up get nothing. The medium, who is really a Wiccan, says it is because the locale is too happy, so they arrange another séance for Sunday night at the local 'haunted house' during which one of the attendees dies of fright. Inspector Gamache to the rescue Once the genteel, avuncular Armand Gamache with his strangely assorted team is ensconced in Three Pines, a whispering campaign is started because earlier, Gamache had caused a popular superior to be put on trial and ultimately imprisoned. Arnot deserved his fate but Gamache had broken the blue wall of silence. This is a fast read of a standard cozy with slightly over-the-top characters. Perhaps living in the Eastern Townships is enough to drive one around the bend.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, February 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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