Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 3/10/2021 + 1184 more book reviews

Another compelling read in the Gamache series by Penny. This one is quite different from most of the series so far in that it takes place entirely in a remote abbey where a murder has taken place rather than in the comfortable setting of Three Pines village. Chief Inspector Gamache and his right-hand-man, Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir, are called to investigate the murder inside the walls of the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loupes. The monastery is home to the Gilbertine order, thought to be long extinct by the Catholic Church. One of the monks, Frère Mathieu, the monastery's choirmaster and prior, has been bashed over the head...but why would another monk commit such an act? The order is devoted entirely to Gregorian chants and its abbot, Dom Philippe, has recruited its members from among the ranks of other orders for their piety, but mainly for their musical abilities. In fact, a recording of their chants has been made and circulated to the world making the monastery open to possible outside scrutiny. But this could also result in more money for the abbey which is sorely needed. The recording has sharply polarized the community between the prior's men, who want to exploit their unexpected success by making another recording and speaking more widely of their vocation, and the abbot's men, who greet the prospect of a more open and worldly community with horror. And to top off Gamache's problems, Sûreté Chief Superintendent Sylvain Françoeur, arrives unexpectedly on the scene to supposedly take charge of the investigation...but what are his real motives? He is definitely an enemy of Gamache and he sows some very serious doubts in the mind of Beauvoir about the motivations of Gamache towards him. Beauvoir is in love with Gamache's daughter, Annie, but will this last?

As I said, this novel was quite outside the norms of most of Penny's other works. I did enjoy it but I missed the interplay between the characters inhabiting Three Pines. I did lean a few things from this novel including how Gregorian Chants started and the origins of musical notation. Chants originally used "neumes" to indicate when monastic voices should be raised and hushed. These neumes eventually evolved into the musical notation used today.

I'll definitely be looking forward to reading the next book in this series especially since this one left a lot of things up in the air...especially the relationship between Gamache and Beauvoir.

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