Louise Penny is the author of eight Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries, the latest being The Beautiful Mystery (Minotaur). She lives outside a small village south of Montreal, surrounded by maple woods, mountains and dogs.
As I approached writing The Beautiful Mystery, I was aware that there are a number of things that link my books--and it's not the recurring characters, nor is it the location of Three Pines. What really runs through my books are themes of belonging, of community, of duality.
Three Pines, the fictional village where many of the books are set, is intentionally idyllic. A place of great peace, of tranquility, of quietude. With good people struggling to lead good lives. But behind the bright façade lies darkness as deep as you'll find in any inner city. Happy smiles hide hideous thoughts. Kind words mask rancid feelings. And while The Beautiful Mystery is the first of the Gamache novels to be set completely away from Three Pines, it brings with it those same themes--of community and belonging, duality, things hidden behind a calm and quiet exterior.
This book is set in a remote monastery in Quebec, where two dozen monks lead lives of contemplation, in a great silence broken only by their Gregorian chants.
When their monastery falls into disrepair, these gentle monks decide to make a modest recording of the chants to sell to their family and friends. But when their chants go viral, the world comes calling. And a monk is murdered.
Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvoir, of the Sûreté du Québec, become the first men who are not monks to enter the monastery in 400 years. There they find deeply devoted men. But are they devoted to God, or to music so powerful it has become known as "the beautiful mystery"? Gamache must investigate the murder, the 'beautiful mystery,' and a community of monks trained to hide their thoughts, their feelings, their words.
The Beautiful Mystery is about conflict in a peaceful setting, about cracks in a community, about voices and silence. It's about the worldly and the Divine. It's about friendship and murder. It's about kneeling down and standing up. It's about the duality we all carry, whether in a tiny Quebec village, or a remote monastery hidden in the wilderness. --Louise Perry