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Book Review of Still Life (Chief Inspector Gamache, Bk 1)

Still Life (Chief Inspector Gamache, Bk 1)
reviewed on + 160 more book reviews


I really wanted to love this mystery, as it was highly recommended by both critics and readers alike, and I follow the author's page on Facebook. I found it very slow going, with much detail about life in small Three Pines, Quebec, and various quirky characters. The main character, who is murdered, is plump, middle aged spinster Jane Neal. I did like all the parts involving Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec. The minor French language words and phrases were mostly self-explanatory, peppering the text here and there. The story developed oh-so-slowly; I thought I would never get to the end. It took me several weeks of forcing myself to continue to finally finish. This mystery won several awards and was a NY Times bestseller, but was not my cup of (chamomile) tea.