The beautiful mystery

When I see the other Goodreads reviews, I think I am in a minority that prefers the books set outside of Three Pines to the ones set within.

What an emotional rollercoaster. Despite missing the Three Pines group, I thought the setting and plot were perfectly ominous.

Short Review: Gamache is called to a monastery because the prior has been murdered. In part because it is at a monastery there are some good theological reflections here, but the series as a whole hints at good theological ideas. There is a faint Dan Brown thread to the story, but it is a minor point of the story. Beside the main murder, the ongoing story of Gamache and the police bureaucracy that is trying to get rid of him takes a big part of this book. I am glad that Penny alternates these books between Three Pines and other places so that we as readers both don't get bored and that there will continue to be people in three pines and they don't all get killed off as an excuse for a mystery.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/beautiful-mystery/

Started great but somewhere in the middle it lost its path and got a bit messy.

Another masterpiece. I agree with some of the others who complained that the secondary narrative started to overwhelm the first. I found it pretty stressful, but satisfied with the ending. Going to look at some Gregorian chant now.