My first introduction to Louise Penny was with State of Terror, the book she co-authored with Hillary Rodham Clinton, which admittedly was what drew me to the book in the first place. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in mysteries and state department/political thrillers. It’s taken me a few years since then to rediscover the author Louise Penny when her Gamache Series was recommended to me recently in a writing class.

I may have mentioned in a previous note, here or on Facebook, that I’ve become obsessed with Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache mystery series. I’ve read the entire series and am less than patiently waiting for the next book that will be released in October. I am about halfway through a second read-through – did I mention that I was obsessed?! I had recommended them to a friend of mine and it turned out she was already reading them! It is so hard to talk to her about them and not give her any spoilers. I had planned to write a proper review and recommendation for next week or the week after, however, today is a special day in the books (and in my own life as I’ll explain).

There should not be any spoilers not found in the synopsis on the backs of the books.

My family, it seems shares birthdays with holidays – seemingly more than would appear average: Mine falls during Chanukah (often), my daughter’s is Epiphany, my uncle’s is St. Patrick’s Day Eve, my mother was Memorial Day, my grandmother was New Year’s Eve, and my father’s is today, Canada Day. We didn’t celebrate Canada Day, although my grandfather was from Canada, and we visited his siblings there all throughout my childhood.

It is not a coincidence that the main character of the Penny books, Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie were married today. In the book, A Rule Against Murder, they are celebrating their thirty-fifth anniversary, and so I thought today I would write the first of what I expect to be several pieces on the Gamache books as a Joyeux Anniversairre to the Gamaches, Happy Canada Day to the Great White North, and a Bonne Fete to my father on what would have been his eighty-sixth birthday.

In digging deeper into the books, the suggestion was that they be read in order, but that it wasn’t necessary. Here, I disagree. I accidentally read one out of order, and while it didn’t ruin anything, I did miss some key details that carried over to the next book, so my recommendation would be to read them in order. Again, in my opinion, it is imperative to read 6-9* in order as there are plot points that carry from these books to the next. It should be noted that even without the main story being conducted, there are often references to previous situations and books.

As a writer, my only complaint has been some continuity errors, which can grate on my nerves, but not enough to put the books down, merely to make a notation in my mind and move on. This is mostly name changes with some changing back. As I tend to do when I’m slightly obsessive with a book or book series, I have been compiling a timeline to sort out when things take place. Generally, the timing is told in seasons until you get to The Madness of Crowds which is set definitively post-pandemic. Other than that, they are stories in modern times.

I realize that readers tend to be more noticing of slight changes and lapses in continuity because we’re absorbed in the stories and tend to re-read over and over again. In my case, for a few scenes/chapters, I skimmed them before bed because I *needed* to know the next thing before I went to sleep and then the next morning would read from the start of the chapter/scene and read it in a normal way, more closely. In a few instances, even reading normally, I would still go back and read closer to get the nuances and details of an important scene.

One thing that Penny does that is often not found in other books I’ve read is multiple perspectives. You almost always know whose perspective is being told, but the books move, even within the chapters, from one to the other. You know what most of the characters are thinking despite saying something else. As a writer, I’ve always been told to write in a single perspective or alternating POVs by chapter. Penny breaks all these rules and I think she does it extremely well.

There is also so much foreshadowing.

There is so much food! Do all Quebecois eat like this?! I thought someone should write a cookbook based on this series, but the internet came to the rescue and there is already a small sample of recipes from the first few books that can be found here: The Nature of the Feast

What would I say are my TOP 5 favorite things about the Gamache Series?

• The references to real places and real things that have happened.

The book are not historical fiction at all, but when Penny mentions something that’s happened in Quebec’s past, it is accurate, which I love. I love that in my short-lived forays into Quebec and Montreal, I recognize some of these places, like the Champlain Bridge, Notre Dame de Bon Secours, Brossard, and the shopping area she mentioned, Mont Royal. I am happy to google to see what is true and what is not.

• The interspersion of Canadian French and the Quebecois culture.

I especially love the swearing and want to delve in deeper to see how religious words became swear words. I also love that in reading, I am picking up some of the limited French phrases and words and after about three quarters through the series I didn’t need Google Translate as much as at the beginning. (My second language in high school was Spanish, although I wouldn’t be so bold as to call it a second language.)

• Character Development

This may change based on the day and even time of day, but my favorite characters are Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Ruth Zardo. And Isabelle Lacoste. Oh, and Gabri. Honestly, I like them all…well, not Peter. I don’t really like Peter. The character changes for everyone from book one through book eighteen are massive, especially Jean-Guy. He is a remarkable character to follow through the series.

• The Poetry

The poetry is woven in such a way as to become another character in the story. Many themes are returned to, and I have two stanzas that I will be using as writing prompts in the future.

• The humor and the banter

• Between Gamache and Beauvoir.
• Between Isabelle Lacoste and Beauvoir.
• Between Ruth and Gamache; Ruth and Beauvoir.
• Between Gamache and Reine-Marie; Reine-Marie and Ruth.
• Gabri.
• So many tangled relationships, emotional, humorous, irreverent, and deranged. Just brilliantly and realistically done. I feel as though I’m there.

A few of the best:

• Pardon my English.
• Clouseau.
• Weather is constantly being discussed.
• Rosa the duck.
• Hockey – I mean it does take place in Canada, so hockey is central to their lives.

As I read more and took notes and created timelines and language dictionaries and recipe cards with mere names on them, I thought how could someone not have already done this? Well, they have done it; for many things. (I still don’t see a timeline, which I hope to complete this month.) Louise Penny’s website is found here. This website, Gamache Series has new ways to see Three Pines and the Gamache family of characters, including annotations. I haven’t begun to explore it and share it with my other obsessed readers and fans.