A Journey to Three Pines: a Deep Dive into Louise Penny's Mystery Series

1:56 - Putting the Book Into Context Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny Published Sept. 28, 2010 by Minotaur Books 4.36 rating on Goodreads Seasonal setting - Winter Book Awards: Anthony Award for Best Novel in 2011, The Agatha Award, The New Blood Dagger Award, The Arthur Ellis Award, The Barry Award, and the Dilys Award Critic Reviews Meredith’s and Roxanna’s encounters with the book 7:20 - The Setup 16:22 - A Deeper Exploration Setup and first paragraph The pacing of the novel The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny Quebec vs American History Anglophone vs. Francophone history and culture Themes: “bury your dead”, “with time” P.345 - Not everything buried is actually dead. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny One bit of lightness in the entire novel Location, Location, Location Relationship between Beauvoir and Ruth Zardo Who leaked the video? Enneagram Corner The Ending 1:14:36 - Superlatives Favorite Scene Character MVP Biggest loser Best food description Favorite Quote No spoilers this episode!  The next book will be A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny  

We are so excited to journey with you to Three Pines, the fictional French-Canadian village created by Louise Penny for her Three Pines series, featuring Armand Gamache. This spin-off podcast series will tackle each of the books in the series in turn, in a spoiler-FILLED format. Be sure you’ve read the book before listening to the episode. As you’ve come to expect with all Currently Reading content, Meredith and Roxanna will follow a regular episode format, with regular segments, so you know what to expect each and every time. We love staying focused on the book, rather than conversational rabbit holes.  Show notes for this series will not be time-stamped except for broad sections, but will include links to Bookshop dot org or Amazon for any books or resources referenced in the episode. 3:45 - Putting the Book Into Context The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny Published Sept. 29, 2009 by Minotaur Books 4.20 rating on Goodreads Seasonal setting - Autum Book Awards: Anthony Award for Best Novel in 2010 Critic Reviews Meredith’s and Roxanna’s encounters with the book Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny 10:50 - The Setup 16:22 - A Deeper Exploration Setup and first paragraph First paragraph hooks the reader so completely  Reminds Meredith of the Vera series by Ann Cleeves The pacing of the novel The deliberate pulling away from the “quaint village mystery” Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree Quality of writing itself - if it could be written as a whole series in today’s publishing Themes: human behavior, conscience, Thoreau’s Walden, contentment, fathers p.172 quote about conscience p. 298 quote about happiness p.175 quote about Walden P. 495 quote about fear and contentment The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny Side plot with Jean-Guy and the notes left by Ruth Zardo The Oddness Factor (is usually in superlatives but gets talked about early in this episode!) The Ending 1:15:31 - Superlatives Biggest Flaw Character MVP p. 403 Favorite Character Biggest loser Best food description Fear Factor 1:29:47 - Within the Series Is this book skippable? Favorite Quote (gets asked after the skippable portion so I added it here for time stamp sake) 1:34:08 - SPOILERS AHEAD HERE Next episode’s read: Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. March’s IPL is brought to you by our anchor store, An Unlikely Story. Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Roxanna | Kaytee Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

We are so excited to journey with you to Three Pines, the fictional French-Canadian village created by Louise Penny for her Three Pines series, featuring Armand Gamache. This spin-off podcast series will tackle each of the books in the series in turn, in a spoiler-FILLED format. Be sure you’ve read the book before listening to the episode. As you’ve come to expect with all Currently Reading content, Meredith and Roxanna will follow a regular episode format, with regular segments, so you know what to expect each and every time. We love staying focused on the book, rather than conversational rabbit holes.  Show notes for this series will not be time-stamped except for broad sections, but will include links to Bookshop dot org or Amazon for any books or resources referenced in the episode. 2:40 - Putting the Book Into Context A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny Publication date (2009) 4.21 rating on Goodreads Seasonal setting - Summer Book Awards: Crimewriters of Canada Award for Excellence in 2009 Critic Reviews Alternate Title: The Murder Stone Meredith’s and Roxanna’s encounters with the book 9:25 - The Setup 8:46 - A Deeper Exploration Setup and first paragraph Perfect prologue - sets us up for Manoir Bellechasse, but then chapter 1 goes back to Three Pines shortly An entire family of characters we as readers cannot really root for Mic drop moments Flimsy mystery, great building of suspense The pacing of the novel Quality of writing itself - last major action scene  Themes: Rest, oppressive heat, paradise lost, prisons, things being unnatural, bravery in vulnerability The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny Still Life by Louise Penny Character Development - Gamache’s misstep 57:08 - What Do We Need to Know? History within the book as it pertains to reality The Oddness Factor 1:07:11 - Superlatives Biggest Flaw Favorite Quote Character MVP Biggest loser Best food description 1:22:37 - Within the Series Is this book skippable? Setting the foundation 1:23:34 - SPOILERS AHEAD HERE Easter eggs to future books Next episode’s read: The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny Support Us: Become a Bookish Friend | Grab Some Merch Shop Bookshop dot org | Shop Amazon Bookish Friends Receive: The Indie Press List with a curated list of five books hand sold by the indie of the month. December’s IPL will be a yearly recap from us, so we can give our beloved Indies a break for the holidays! Trope Thursday with Kaytee and Bunmi - a behind the scenes peek into the publishing industry All Things Murderful with Meredith and Elizabeth - special content for the scary-lovers, brought to you with the special insights of an independent bookseller The Bookish Friends Facebook Group - where you can build community with bookish friends from around the globe as well as our hosts Connect With Us: The Hosts and Regulars: Meredith | Roxanna | Kaytee The Show: Instagram | Website | Email | Threads Affiliate Disclosure: All affiliate links go to Bookshop unless otherwise noted. Shopping here helps keep the lights on and benefits indie bookstores. Thanks for your support!

We are so excited to journey with you to Three Pines, the fictional French-Canadian village created by Louise Penny for her Three Pines series, featuring Armand Gamache. This spin-off podcast series will tackle each of the books in the series in turn, in a spoiler-FILLED format. Be sure you’ve read the book before listening to the episode. As you’ve come to expect with all Currently Reading content, Meredith and Roxanna will follow a regular episode format, with regular segments, so you know what to expect each and every time. We love staying focused on the book, rather than conversational rabbit holes.  Show notes for this series will not be time-stamped, but will include links to Bookshop dot org or Amazon for any books or resources referenced in the episode. These are affiliate links, so they kick back a small percentage to us if you buy through them, and help support the work we do on Currently Reading. 1:56 - The Set Up The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (one L simply due to demographic of readers? Please don’t fight me over this!) 3:05 - Putting the Book Into Context Publication date  Seasonal setting - Spring, around Easter Book Awards: Agatha Award for Best Novel in 2008, Nominated for: The Anthony Award, The Macavity Award and the Barry Award for Best Novel of 2008 Critic Reviews Alternate Title: Cruelest vs Cruellest - that’s the only difference dependent on geographic location of publishing. Meredith’s and Roxanna’s encounters with the book Currently Reading Season 5: Episode 45 w/Ezeekat 8:46 - A Deeper Exploration Setup and first few paragraphs A seance as the driving source of the mystery Still Life by Louise Penny One note character in Madeline/lack of care for her as a character Gamache not introduced until chapter 9 Pg. 69 - Make note for future reads Gamache as a father and grandfather figure versus an inspector The pacing of the novel Quality of writing itself Themes: Regeneration, Resurrection and its unpredictability, jealousy, equanimity, grief, platonic love,  Character Development - Gamache’s Pride, Beauvoir The Fear Factor 55:58 - What Do We Need to Know? Village of Three Pines - The Hadley House, Hazel’s House A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny Homes as a driver for the plot/characters The Oddness Factor Gamache’s accented English 1:06:00 - Superlatives Favorite scene Character MVP Biggest loser Best food description 1:16:32 - Within the Series Is this book skippable? Setting the foundation Favorite quote *Does the reading of passages take you out of the conversation or help enhance it? Let us know at the socials below! Next episode’s read: A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny No Spoilers this episode!  Connect With Us: Please note the change in Meredith’s Instagram handle. This was recorded prior to the change.  Meredith is @meredithmondayschwartz on Instagram Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram Roxanna is @roxannatheplanner on Instagram currentlyreadingpodcast.com @currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram [email protected] Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast and www.zazzle.com/store/currentlyreading