The Long Way Home
A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A #1 New York Times Bestseller, Louise Penny's The Long Way Home is an intriguing Chief Inspector Gamache Novel.
Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, "to make the wounded whole."
While Gamache doesn't talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home. Failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache's help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines. "There's power enough in Heaven," he finishes the quote as he contemplates the quiet village, "to cure a sin-sick soul." And then he gets up. And joins her.
Together with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Myrna Landers, they journey deeper and deeper into Québec. And deeper and deeper into the soul of Peter Morrow. A man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist, he would sell that soul. And may have. The journey takes them further and further from Three Pines, to the very mouth of the great St. Lawrence river. To an area so desolate, so damned, the first mariners called it the land God gave to Cain. And there they discover the terrible damage done by a sin-sick soul.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Edgar-finalist Penny's perceptive, perfectly paced 10th mystery featuring Chief Insp. Armand Gamache of the Quebec S ret (after 2013's How the Light Gets In), Three Pines resident Peter Morrow has pledged to show up for a dinner with his wife, Clara, exactly one year after their separation. When Peter fails to materialize on the appointed day, Clara fears that he has either found a new woman or died. Clara turns to Gamache for help in locating Peter, who appears to have adopted a new approach to painting during his time away from her. Over the course of the intriguing search, Penny offers real insight into the evolution of artistic style as well as the envy that artists feel about each other's success. At times, the prose is remarkably fresh, filled with illuminating and delightful turns of phrase (e.g., Clara notices "her own ego, showing some ankle"), though readers should also be prepared for the breathless sentence fragments that litter virtually every chapter.
Customer Reviews
The Long Way Home
Louise Penny has a great way of holding your attention as she unfolds another mystery with Armand Gamache leading the way. An artist leaves a small town in Quebec. After not returning the search for Peter Morrow is lead by Gamache. There are some interesting twists along the way. I loved the way she involved an environmental problem in this story. Being from northern VT, I could relate to the area as well as the environmental impact this product has had to people.
Not my favorite
I love Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, but on my second read I had to skip to the end before I was halfway through this one. The story is more plodding than interesting. I have no affection for Peter and Clara without Peter is more interesting.
Great and satisfying read
The Gamache series blends solid mysteries with well developed characters and bursts of insight and humor. Highly recommended.