The Armand Gamache Mystery Series
by Louise Penny
Move over Inspector Morse and Hercule Poirot. Canadian author Louise Penny has created a perfect award-winning mystery series starring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his two assistants, Inspector Jean Guy Beauvoir and agent Isabelle Lacoste.
Armand Gamache is head of the homicide department for the Surete du Quebec, and as such is the central character in all of Penny's mystery novels. A man to be reckoned with, Gamache repeatedly displays his strength of character, his determination and compassion, and his high morals and good ethics.
Lovers of literature need not fear that Gamache is a boring character, however. In each book in her series, Louise Penny uses carefully worded characterizations to bring the chief inspector and his assistants to life.She demonstrates a depth of understanding when it comes to human nature: the good, the bad, and the ugly are all displayed for the reader to see.
The series strikes a good balance between the mysterious deaths in each book (caused by arrows, poison, electrocution, or even large statues...) and the intriguing detective work that unravels each crime. Penny has even worked in a mystery within a mystery, which carries through three of her books before being exposed.
Penny adds another touch of authenticity to her novels when she sprinkles French phrases through each mystery. It's especially fitting, as her books are set in the fictional village of Three Pines, a town in southeastern Quebec, near the Canada-U.S. border. Readers can easily infer the meaning of the phrases, but if curious, can look up the correct pronunciation on the author's website, www.louisepenny.com.
Louise Penny's mystery series has received a number of awards, including the Agatha Christie Award for "Best Mystery" and two for "Best First Mystery". Her five novels have each been on best-seller lists and have all received rave reviews in the press. Perhaps the Chicago Times said it best when they had this to say about her first novel, "Still Life": "It is hard to decide what provides the most pleasure in this enjoyable book - Gamache, a shrewd and kindly man constantly surprised by homicide; the village, which sounds at first like an ideal place to escape from civilization, or the carefully constructed plot."
The five published books in the Inspector Armand Gamache series are: "Still Life" (2005); "Dead Cold" (2005), also published as "A Fatal Grace"; "The Cruelest Month" (2007); "A Rule Against Murder" (2008), also published as "The Murder Stone", and "The Brutal Telling" (2009). Her latest book, "Bury Your Dead", will be coming out later this year.
Each of these mystery novels can be found at the Prince George Public Library in the adult mystery section.
reviewed by Brenda Borden
Nechako branch assistant
at the Prince George Public Library
The Treehouse Book
by Candida Collins
Readers who played in tree houses as kids will enjoy The Treehouse Book. Today, adults can relive their childhood fantasies by building their year-round family dwelling or summer cottage in the spreading branches of a forest. In this hardcover volume, Collins features 23 treehouses built for grownups. The stunning full-colour photographs reveal the quirks and creativity of each building.
Flip through the pages to discover a fantastic treehouse built on the grounds of one of Ireland's historic country houses; the octagonal tower and curving wooden staircase add an attractive touch to the cedar shake structure. Further on in the book, readers will see a treehouse built to entertain a family with several children. One half of the building has a kitchen, bathroom, and living area for hosting adult dinner parties; the kids' side has three medieval towers, a secret trapdoor, rope bridges, and a zip wire. The beautifully detailed wood construction would rival many homes and cottages.
The Treehouse Book contains plenty of photos and little text. Parents who have promised their child a tree fort in the past may want to skim through its page for inspiration. Better yet, dream of a treehouse for yourself - after all, the book contains the contact information for the treehouse designers featured in its pages.
reviewed by Rachel Huston
marketing and development assistant
at the Prince George Public Library
Stranger To History:
A Son's Journey
Through Islamic Lands
by Aatish Taseer
Written in a simple and straightforward style, Stranger To History is an astounding work of non-fiction. It is part travelogue and part memoir.
Aatish Taseer was raised by his mother in India and had virtually no recollection of his Muslim father. In an attempt to reconnect with his father, Taseer wrote an article for a political magazine in England, discussing the estrangement that many second-generation Pakistanis faced as they settled in England. He described how the loss of their cultural identity made them vulnerable to Islamic extremism in Britain.
He then sent a copy of the article to his father in Pakistan, only to receive a stinging letter of displeasure and resentment in reply. Taseer's father rued the young man's lack of understanding of Islam.
Aatish Taseer then decided to meet his father and increase his knowledge and understanding of Islam by making a journey to various Islamic countries. He travelled to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and finally Pakistan.
Stranger To History centres around the meeting of Aatish Tasser and his father and describes how their face-to-face meeting set in motion a chain of interesting emotional, temperamental, and circumstantial reactions. This book can be found in the non-fiction area of the adult general collection at the Prince George Public Library.
reviewed by Bal Sethi
trustee for the Prince George
Public Library board.
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