Book Review: Part 2 [A Fatal Grace]
No one in Three Pines mourns the death of CC de Poitiers. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny follows the investigation of the murder of an icy cruel Martha Stewart wannabe. The novel is the second in the Inspector Gamache series (the first titled Still Life) and was published in 2007 by First St. Martin's Minotaur. (It was initially published in Great Britain as Dead Cold.)
CC de Poiters by all accounts is a horrible human being. Even though she thinks she has it figured out with her "Li Bien" philosophy, which emphasizes light, she is all darkness inside. She verbally (and sometimes physically) harasses everyone she knows. Her poisonous words crush dreams. She even considers baby seals to be fashionable footwear. It's not surprising, then, that the small Canadian town of Three Pines is more surprised than devastated by CC's murder. It's up to the warm, thoughtful, and well-respected Inspector Armand Garmache to determine who would hate CC enough to electrocute her in the middle of a frozen lake during a curling competition. Was it her cuckolded husband? Was it Saul, CC's extramarital lover whom she used for his talent in photography? Was it her daughter, Crie, who was either ignored or publicly berated? Was it Clara, whose dreams of a fantastic art career were snuffed out by CC's cruel words? Was it "Mother" Beatrice Mayer, an elderly resident of Three Pines whose business CC had threatened? CC's list of enemies is long, leaving Inspector Gamache with quite a knot to unravel.
Although I love a good murder mystery (I've read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is an all-time favorite), there was a lot I didn't like about A Fatal Grace. First, the novel is peppered with the f-word. I guess I don't mind one or two in a novel if it's really necessary (although I'd prefer zero), but A Fatal Grace was simply littered with the word. Agent Yvette Nichole, a character whom I was very happy to be finished with after Still Life, makes a reappearance, and she's just as irritating this time around. And maybe it's because of the season of life that I'm in, but I find it strange how none of the major characters have any children. As someone who spends all of her time nurturing her children, the lack of them made the characters a bit unrelatable to me.
My major complaint about this book, however, is that it seems to attack Christians. So many digs against believers are made in this book, I wondered whether I should even finish it. Here are a few examples:
"'Were you praying?' Lemieux was embarrassed to ask. Prayer, in his generation, was worse than rape, worse than sodomy, worse than failure" (p. 96).
I can't find this in the book now, but there is another part in which Penny paints a priest as being a legalistic prophet of doom. Inspector Gamache recalls how he, his wife, and another family member had attended a worship service. The priest calls Gamache on the telephone and tells him how nice it was to see him and his family in church. The inspector holds his breath, knowing what's coming. Sure enough, the priest quips, "Too bad you're going to Hell." (The priest's basis for this judgment is Gamache's irregular church attendance.) It's maddening how Christians are continually portrayed as ignorant, judgmental, hateful, and even creepy in today's media.
I was relieved, slightly, to find that Inspector Gamache seems to believe in God ("Armand Gamache wondered whether CC de Poitiers was at that very moment trying to explain herself to a perplexed God and a couple of angry seals" [p. 112]). However, Gamache doesn't think of God as someone whom he can talk to or ask for help: "'Yes, I was praying, though not, I suppose, in a conventional way. I was thinking about Crie and trying to send her the message that the world could be a good place, and to give it another chance'" (p. 96).
All of that said, incredibly, there is a tiny part of me that wants to read the third book in the series. Why? If you take away all the negatives I listed above, A Fatal Grace is a good old-fashioned who-dunnit murder mystery. I also adore Inspector Gamache's character. He is quiet, humble, thoughtful, and intelligent. He seems to believe in God (or some version of Him), and he certainly believes in the goodness and value of people. He's one of the warmest, most likable characters I've "met" in a long time. Even though the temptation is present, I will not be reading the next in the series, The Cruelest Month. I've learned that if the Holy Spirit is telling me not to do something, I'd better listen!
Click HERE for my review of The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin.
