Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of December 2022:It’s a repetitive task of the very best kind to report that the newest entry in the Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries is yet another series high. Penny has—aptly, as readers will discover—assembled a treasure trove of plot lines, including an origin story for Gamache and his second-in-command Beauvoir—tied to an appalling case of child abuse and murder—and the mystery of the secret room that contains the painting that gives the book its title. But as ever, Penny is not simply concerned with the A to Z of an investigation. A World of Curiosities is about second chances, redemption, and forgiveness, too. Leave it to a writer of Penny’s caliber to whip all of those ingredients into a heart-stopper of a thriller that never shortchanges the reader, on either suspense or humanity. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Editor
Product Description
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns in the eighteenth book in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's beloved series.
It’s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.
But something has.
As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators’ lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they’ve arrived in the village of Three Pines.
But to what end?
Gamache and Beauvoir’s memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother’s murder hurt them beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered and are now about to erupt?
As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.
As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there’s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.
In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache’s home.
Review
Outstanding Praise for A World of Curiosities
ONE OF WASHINGTON POST'S BEST MYSTERIES AND THRILLERS OF 2022
ONE OF PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S BEST FALL BOOKS
ONE OF AARP'S BEST FALL BOOKS
ONE OF CRIMEREADS' MOST ANTICIPATED FALL BOOKS
ONE OF BARNES & NOBLE'S BEST BOOKS OF 2022
ONE OF BUSTLE'S MOST ANTICIPATED NOVEMBER 2022 BOOKS
“Simply outstanding… Penny’s gift for intelligent and transcendent storytelling delivers light, bringing themes of forgiveness and redemption to society’s darker moments.” ―Christian Science Monitor
“Penny delves into the nature of evil, sensitively exploring the impact of the dreadful events she describes while bringing a warmth and humanity to her disparate cast of characters that, unusually for a crime novel, leaves you feeling better about the world once you’ve finished.”―The Guardian
“Another superb achievement… Penny weaves together all these narratives―the
series of modern-day killings, the decade-old bludgeoning murder and the haunting artwork that has remained shrouded in mystery across the centuries―with a master’s deft hand.” ―BookPage (starred review)
“For Penny, the novel is a narrative tour de force, drawing brilliantly on some dark moments in Québec history and leading Gamache and the residents of Three Pines to a hard-won, thoroughly unsentimental recognition that forgiveness is our most po
