The Long Way Home by Louise Penny

  

Published by Minotaur Books

When Louise Penny writes a book, I always find it comforting. This may seem a strange word to use in light of the fact that her novels feature Chief Inspector Gamache and therefore feature a crime of some sort; murder, loss, injury, death. The author paints a picture as clearly as if she has been the artist. The fact that this book in particular features art does not detract from her word pictures. The Long Way Home is the 10th Inspector Gamache book with more to come.

At this time of his life, Armand Gamache is recovering from severe injuries to body and mind, as is his son-in-law and former deputy Jean-Guy. Both are no longer working for the Sûreté du Québec, but duty calls to them regardless. Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie have found the perfect healing village of Three Pines, bi-lingual and calming, they purchased their home there a few years ago. This very small village might more easily be referred to as a neighbourhood, so close and welcoming the residents are. One would think that crime would never attempt to touch such a place, but no place is devoid of such things. But has a crime actually been committed? That is the question. Clara, what some might call a spontaneous artist, slapping paint on canvas with happy abandonment, is worried. She asked her husband to leave for one year and it is now past the time he should have returned. They are both artists, but with entirely different methodology. Why has he not come home? Is he dead or alive?

This book takes us inside the minds of several people, as most if not all the books in this series do. Louise Penny treats her creations as individuals she knows personally and that is what makes her books so comforting yet brilliant. We know these people. They are complete, flawed, righteous, giving, loving, supportive, in other words, they are Everyone in Anytown. As this story takes us through the growing pains of art and love, new discoveries about the population of these people are made. I love a book that teaches me something new, and this one teaches me a lot about art and its connection to heart and soul. It teaches me how to see into a painting.

Why can this group of friends not find Peter? It's almost as though he has stepped into a painting and disappeared. Yet, they are able to track his journey, but where will it take them in the end and what will they find? Clara, his wife, is sure she will find him but even the former Chief Inspector has little idea where and how to look. The journey takes this odd bunch of friends halfway 'round the globe and back. Though their journey has been extensive, it has been fruitful in an unusual way. Sometimes insight comes from surprising places. As some pieces fit together others fall apart. I loved this book for its depth of perception, its humour, its colour, its mystery, the many surprises, and the opportunity to get to know these characters and their village.

Dark Water by Chynna Laird

Published by Imajin Books

Chynna Laird has filled this many-faceted book with a story that mirrors so much of life and cuts very deeply into subjects relevant today. Suspenseful and compelling yet heart-warming. A young mother disappears shortly after her husband is killed on a peace-keeping mission in Afghanistan and the book centers around her family, her friends, and even the community where the family summers every year. Many of the lake campers start talking about an old Indian legend about the Watcher of the Lake. Clues are found, but they confuse the issue even more. Some are locked away in the mind of her youngest daughter, Sage, who  has not spoken a word since her mother disappeared.

This is but a small issue in a larger one because Sage suffers from a specific type of SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder). Her mother is/was a clinical psychologist, well versed in taking care of her younger child all while teaching her older daughter Freesia what works, what doesn't, and how to calm Sage in one of her terrors. Freesia is 16 years old as the story begins one year after her mother's disappearance and the girls are living with their grandparents. Fortunately for them, they are in a good family situation with their grandparents. Full of fun and mischief, yet caring and comforting, they too are able to work with Sage. When a lone girl who seems familiar begins to show up watching Freesia more than she is comfortable with, they finally have it out and become friendly in a way. Mizu wants to help look for clues.

The reader may feel they have a grip on who committed the crime, now upgraded from a disappearance. But there are so many possibilities. The peace-keepers on the mission with Freesia's father all have issues. All have been treated by her mother for PTSD. While it was called a mysterious disappearance, all kinds of rumours surfaced. Now it is surmised to be foul play, anyone might be suspect. Nothing is really as it seems.

This is not just a murder mystery, there are too many odd sequences and discoveries. Who is Mizu, how does she find clues others miss? I found a lot in this book to keep me glued to the pages. I love learning something new, and also have an interest in SPD. With so much going on the storyline could easily have been lost, but it is all held together with personalities, relationships, the feel of the lake and forest, sailing and swimming, living normal lives during a time when there is precious little normalcy. Aside from the background of the mission in Afghanistan, this story takes place in Canada, I loved the book through all its passion, trauma, laughter and love. That is what life is about after all, don't you think?

Nightshade on Elm Street - a Flower Shop Mystery #13 by Kate Collins

Published by Obsidian

Take a rich mama's boy, a discarded fiance who has successfully picked herself back up, one hot Italian private detective, two smothering mothers, a ditsy fashion-conscious cousin, a missing girl, a bunch of wacky guests, and the parties are on!

What has happened to Melissa? She is allegedly engaged to Pryce Osborne who was previously engaged to Abby, now owner of the flower shop "Bloomers". Abby is now engaged to and assists Marco, the private detective called in to find the missing Melissa.

Jillian, Abby's cousin and coincidentally married to Pryce's much more compassionate younger brother Claymore, pleads the case, and it's off to the upperclass lakeside "cabins" for Abby and Marco. Little do they know just how complicated this case will become.

Kate Collins really has her hands full keeping up with all these fascinating characters, I must say! I always like learning something new, and here I learned flowers and their proponents.

With Abby's bridal shower imminent, her plans are running amok. She wants to put it together herself, and pitted against the formidable group of mother, mother-in-law, cousin and shop staff on one side and a ridiculously complicated (and often drunk) group of misfits on the other side, she can feel the rock and the hard place closing in fast. Only Marco seems calm. There are so many secrets her head is spinning. The investigation even more complicated, with the neighboring elite forever coming and going at the Osborne's large cabin. Did Melissa go to an exclusive resort? Did she remain nearby, perhaps unwillingly? Whose body has washed up at the lake? Just one of many strange happenings.

Everyone is intent on "helping" with her shower, while at the Osborne's, mysteries become more sinister, who will be the next victim? Although there is no “locked door” I am somehow reminded of Agatha Christie. How will everything get accomplished at the shop and a murderer caught in this luxurious vacation spot in such a short time? Suspicions galore, are there no real leads?

Great writing to keep us all guessing, and give us a glimpse of the uber-rich, who surprisingly seem unaffected about the mysteries and victims around them.

I really enjoyed this book, Lots of twists and turns, and a plethora of oddball characters fill out the latter plot while Abby's fiance, cousin, and mothers working in the background bring a surprising sanity in the end. This is #13 in the Flower Shop series, so I may have repeated some parts of Abby's life that appeared in earlier books. I can hardly wait to read another!