By Paul Carrier
Having written 18 novels in her Québec-based mystery series starring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, Louise Penny has consistently shown herself to be a master of characterization and evocative writing. But in A World of Curiosities, the latest entry in the series, Penny has concocted an intricate plot that is so elaborate and fast-paced it may pack even more narrative punch than any of her previous novels.
As fans know, Gamache has held various high-level jobs in the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force of that Canadian province, including his current position as head of the Sûreté’s homicide division.
He’s a busy man indeed in A World of Curiosities. Too busy, in fact, for a thorough summary of the novel’s story line in this space.
Suffice it to say that the plot explores the murder of a drug-addicted prostitute; the potentially malevolent intent of one or both of the victim’s children as they grow into adulthood; a mass shooting at an engineering school in Montréal; the discovery of a sealed room above a bookstore in the quaint (and fictional) Québec town of Three Pines, where Gamache lives; a mysterious painting that suggests someone — perhaps Gamache and his family? — may be in grave danger; and the murder of an elderly woman whose death is initially misclassified as a suicide.
And then things get really interesting.
As shocking plot twists multiply at a rapid clip, Gamache’s team races to prevent a catastrophe. A mounting sense of impending doom settles over the proceedings in this stylishly unnerving but rewarding novel.
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