A Trick of the Light

In A Trick of the Light, the seventh book in the Three Pines series by author Louise Penny, local artist Clara Morrow is about to have her portraits shown at a prestigious art museum in Montreal, Quebec. Clara is very nervous but gets through the experience and returns home to her Three Pines friends, artists and gallery owners.

The next morning Clara is sitting in her garden waiting for her husband Peter to arrive with newspapers reviewing her art show. As Peter approaches the garden he sees something that was hidden from Clara’s view. A dead body! The body is identified as Lillian Dyson, a childhood friend of Clara’s who betrayed her while they were in art college. Clara says she hasn’t seen or heard from Lillian in twenty years.

The dead body in Clara’s garden overshadows everything she’s worked toward for twenty years. It begins an investigation by friend Chief Inspector Gamache and his second in command Beauvoir. Louise Penny creates a mix of murder, mystery and literary novel. She has written a world we can enter into and live in. Highly recommended.