The Murder Stone by Louise Penny

11. - 474.) The Murder Stone by Louise Penny – Sometimes four books into a series there is a dropoff in quality. Setting a mystery away from the series home rarely improves the series. Not this time. The Murder Stone is the best of the Inspector Gamache series. (Since writing this review I would say Bury Your Dead and A Trick of the Light are better.) Set an hour away from Three Pines Gamache and his wife, Reine Marie, are at a beautiful summer resort, Manoir Bellechasse, for their annual summer stay. They arrive to find the wealthy Morrow family has gathered for a family reunion. The Morrows are a lifetime dysfunctional unit who have assembled this year for the unveiling of a statute of the deceased patriarach, Charles Morrow. Their cruelties to each other are precise after a lifetime of practice. The Gamaches provide a powerful contrast. About to celebrate their 35^th anniversary they deeply love each other. They share humour and quick wits. They are happy to meet their friends from Three Pines Peter and Clara. They had not realized Peter was a son in the Morrow family. When Morrow daughter, Julia, is killed by the statute falling on her everyone is a legitimate suspect. (The book maintains Penny’s tradition of unique methods of murder.) Not only is there an abundance of suspects the Surete cannot figure out how the heavy statute was moved. Amidst the investigation we learn of the scandal and death of Gamache’s father. Gracefully interwined are the Morrow saga, the Gamache marital relationship, the history of Gamache’s father and a murder investigation. The solution was imaginative and cleverly done. The atmosphere of the Manoir is as wonderful as Three Pines. I now wish I could jump in my car and head to the Manoir on the way to Three Pines. (I heard Louise on the radio say that Gamache is her dream husband. She said if she had to live with a fictional character by writing about him she wanted someone she would marry.) Superb. (Mar. 4/09) (Tied for Fourth Best fiction of 2009)