Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel!   Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder. No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death. When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Quebec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed? With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.     Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

When sadistic socialite CC de Poitiers is fatally electrocuted at a Christmas curling competition in the tiny Quebecois village of Three Pines, only the arcane method of the murder is a surprise in Penny's artful but overwritten sophomore effort (after her highly praised 2006 debut, Still Life). CC had cobbled together a spiritual guidance business based on eliminating emotion, but the feelings she inspired in others were anything but serene. Everyone around the cartoonish victim-from a daughter cowed by lifelong abuse to the local spiritual teacher whose business she threatens to ruin-has a motive, and the crime also links to a vagrant's recent murder as well as to the pasts of several beloved village residents. The calm but quirky Chief Insp. Armand Gamache, who arrives in Three Pines from Montreal to head the investigation, is appealing as the series' focus. Though Penny gorgeously evokes the smalltown Christmas mood, the novel is oddly steeped in holiday atmosphere for a May release, and the plot's dependence on lengthy backstory slows the momentum. (May) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

In this follow-up to Penny's acclaimed debut, Still Life, Quobec Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his thoughtful team of sleuths from the Soreto du Quobec tackle the murder of Martha Stewart wannabe CC de Poitiers. Electrocuted as she watched a neighborhood curling match in the tiny village of Three Pines, the diva of the emerging "Be Calm" lifestyle empire was nobody's favorite. Suspects abound: her long-suffering husband, her opportunist lover, her dysfunctional daughter, and pretty much everyone else in the village who encountered the self-absorbed CC. But why work so hard to kill her? Mourning is minimal. Gamache and his team are thoroughly perplexed. As the investigation proceeds, a strangely manufactured life is revealed, and CC is linked to yet another unsolved murder. By the story's end, Gamache is provided an excellent opportunity for mentoring, he makes peace with his prickly boss, and readers get a traditional and highly intelligent mystery. Still Life ws a Debut Dagger honor book in Britain, and Penny's new title is sure to create great reader demand for more stories featuring civilized and articulate Chief Inspector Gamache. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 1/07.]-Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Louise Penny (born 1958) is a Canadian author of mystery novels.

Penny was born in Toronto where she earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Radio and Television) from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1979. Before she turned to writing in 2004, she was a journalist and radio host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in various cities across Canada for 25 years. She currently lives in a village south of Montreal with her husband Michael.

(Bowker Author Biography) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.