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A Trick of the Light

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

A New York Times Notable Crime Book and Favorite Cozy for 2011
A Publishers Weekly Best Mystery/Thriller books for 2011

With A Trick of the Light, Louise Penny takes us back to the deceptively peaceful village of Three Pines in this brilliant novel in her award-winning, New York Times bestselling series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.
"Hearts are broken," Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. "Sweet relationships are dead."
But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow's garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara's solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light. Where nothing is as it seems. Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart.
And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they've found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.
"Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie [but] it sells her short. Her characters are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm...." —Booklist (starred review)

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from July 4, 2011
      In Penny's outstanding seventh Chief Inspector Gamache novel, Gamache and his loyal deputy in Québec's Sûreté, Insp. Jean Guy Beauvoir, are still coming to terms with the multiple physical and emotional traumas they suffered in the previous book, Bury Your Dead. These tribulations have already cost Beauvoir his marriage. Meanwhile, the day after the triumphant opening of a show of their friend Clara Morrow's paintings at Montréal's Musée d'Art Contemporain, a dead woman with a broken neck turns up in Clara's garden in the small town of Three Pines. Gamache and his team return to this outwardly idyllic community once again to ascertain whether one of its residents is a murderer. With her usual subtle touch and timely injections of humor, Penny effectively employs the recurring motif of the chiaroscuro, the interplay of light and dark, which distinguishes Morrow's artwork and which resonates symbolically in the souls of the author's characters. 100,000 first printing; author tour.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 31, 2011
      In Penny’s latest whodunit in this popular series, Chief Insp. Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his assistant, Insp. Jean Guy Beauvoir, are back in the small village of Three Pines. This time, the sleuths are called to the home of artist Clara Morrow when a corpse is discovered in the garden. Veteran Penny narrator Ralph Cosham—whose British accent in no way hinders him from lapsing into Québécois when necessary—reads with a mellow baritone that is an ideal match for the thoughtful Gamache. Additionally, he succeeds at creating voices for other continuing characters, including the sardonic, psychically damaged Beauvoir and the hapless but undaunted Clara. Cosham also ably renders the emotional art crowd, the envious painters, the fiercely competitive gallery owners, the snarky, self-styled critics, and an angry and ancient poetess whose late arrival ends this beautifully performed audiobook on a perfect note. A Minotaur Books hardcover.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Ralph Cosham's skillful narration immediately transports listeners to a small town in Quebec, full of eccentric characters. The death of an art critic prompts a murder investigation that is tightly woven with a number of subplots and backstories. The author's dry humor becomes all the more evident in Cosham's subtle reading style. He pronounces French words with ease and uses accented English to help create an authentic setting. Through gentle characterization he helps to create a likable cast of characters. On occasion, however, his approach can be too subtle for the swift changes in scene and can result in momentary confusion. This problem may be less of an issue for listeners who are familiar with the series. K.J.P. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

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