Louise Penny used to work for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but recently she has flourished as the author of popular detective novels which have won numerous awards. She burst upon the literary scene in 2005 with the publication of her first novel, "Still Life." That inaugural effort captured the New Blood Dagger, Barry, Arthur Ellis, Anthony, and Dilys awards. Her second novel, "Dead Cold," also known as "A Fatal Grace," followed this coup by winning the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel. Her later novels have captured additional awards.  

The star of Penny's novels is Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec. Gamache is a bear of a man with a walrus mustache and kindly eyes that beguile everyone he meets until they glimpse the ferocious intellect behind those eyes which categorize every clue in his relentless search for the murderer. Other than his success at his career, Gamache lives a rather ordinary life as a devoted family man, loving husband, and the father of an accomplished daughter.

His reputation among the other police in Québec is legendary, so Gamache is always accorded the respect he deserves. On this point Gamache differs from another popular detective who I am reminded of when I read this book. That detective also understands humanity all too well as she quietly sits in the background sifting clues through her highly analytical mind. Yes, I am reminded of Agatha Christie's Jane Marple, who shares with Gamache a keen intellect, a deep understanding of the foibles of human nature, and the fact that their murder cases always seem to occur in small village locales filled with quirky characters. It strikes me that St. Mary Mead and Three Pines have much in common.

"The Brutal Telling" is the fifth of what have been called Penny's "Three Pines Mysteries," since they take place in the isolated and picturesque village of that name located in Quebec a few miles north of the Vermont border. The town started off as a refuge for English loyalists during our Revolutionary War, and it has remained a haven for those who have wanted to escape or flee from somewhere else even though it is only an hour or so drive to Montreal.

The residents who Penny places here are as picturesque as the locale, and they add great delight and piquancy to the story. The social center for the village is the local bistro where the cuisine is lovingly prepared by Gabri while his partner, Olivier, runs the establishment. The place is warm and homey with two fireplaces in a large dining room off the bar area. As it happens, this is the final weekend of the season with a big fair running in a nearby town, so Three Pines is packed with tourists. 

The one "tourist" that no one expected to find in Three Pines is the body of a stranger found one morning lying on the floor of Olivier's and Gabri's popular bistro. Anyone could have done this, but why place the body here and not hide it in the woods? It makes no sense at all. Furthermore, no one in this tightly knit town admits to knowing who the person is. He was an elderly man in his seventies who appears rough and poorly dressed in well worn clothes, but his hygiene argues against him having been homeless. 

We know who the victim is, since the opening chapter has Olivier visiting this man, known to him as the Hermit, late the night before at his small cabin and enjoying his company in a room partially lit by candlelight. He listens spellbound as the Hermit relates a long running mythological tale about a young boy's desperate attempt to escape the wrath of the Mountain King for that which he had stolen. What was stolen in the fable is never identified, but while there Olivier keeps glancing at a small canvas sack in the corner tied with a bit of loose twine, a gift which the Hermit has promised to give him "soon."

Eventually Gamache discovers the cabin deep in the woods filled with a remarkable collection of valuable antiquities. However, knowing who the victim was does not mean that they know his name or why he was murdered. Our suspicion naturally falls on Olivier, since we know from the first chapter that he was the only man in Three Pines who knew him. Or so it is assumed, as this could just be circumstantial evidence. Arguing against his guilt is the movement of the body from the crime scene to the bistro, for why would Olivier place the body in his own bistro? Gamache and Jean Guy Beauvoir, his right hand man, will have plenty of leads to check out.  

I enjoyed this book so much that I have already purchased Louise Penny's first novel, "Still Life," for my future reading. Like other novels with foreign phrases, I had some difficulty with the French idioms and the syntax, but eventually I became comfortable with the verbiage and was able to flow with the writing. 2009, St. Martin's Press/Minotaur, 384 pages.