Still Life

Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1

By: Louise Penny

Narrated by: Adam Sims

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The discovery of a dead body in the woods on Thanksgiving Weekend brings Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his colleagues from the Surete du Quebec to a small village in the Eastern Townships. Gamache cannot understand why anyone would want to deliberately kill well-loved artist Jane Neal, especially any of the residents of Three Pines - a place so free from crime it doesn't even have its own police force. But Gamache knows that evil is lurking somewhere behind the white picket fences and that, if he watches closely enough, Three Pines will start to give up its dark secrets....

Coming soon: Book 2 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series, Dead Cold. Winter in Three Pines, and the sleepy village is carpeted in snow. It's a time of peace and goodwill - until a scream pierces the biting air. A spectator at the annual Boxing Day curling match has been fatally electrocuted. Despite the large crowd, there are no witnesses and - apparently - no clues.

©2005 Louise Penny (P)2006 Isis Publishing Ltd

Classic whodunnit

This is a classic whodunnit with a super sagacious detective, and a sleepy village full of suspects. Gamarhe is a great character. The narration is excellent.

Captivating Murder Mystery

This book is so well written. Captivating and entertaining. Amazing character knowledge which brought them to life.

Warm British-style mystery

As mentioned by other reviewers, this is a fun, character-driven story in the vein of the British murder-mystery canon. Smart and a good listen, if you're into that sub-genre, which I am.

Pretty good

I really enjoyed this book, despite a few errors in police procedure and terminology/explanation of bows and how they work.

Good story - just one thing drove me crazy...

This was a good story, with interesting characters. The one thing that drove me nuts was that the narrator did not have a consistent voice for the main character (Inspector Gamash). He kept alternating back and forth through the whole book: sometimes the Inspector had a thick French accent, and sometimes he had a thick British accent. I found this very annoying. Otherwise I was happy with the book and the performance.

Loved it

So glad to find the beginning of a great series. I'll be looking up more!

Worried for nothing!

I love this series and author dearly. But I was afraid to buy these in audiobook format as I couldn't have stood listening to the French get all mangled up. Thankfully the narrator made me feel right at home. I am very impressed and glad to know I can safely continue to purchase this series!

Easy Listening

Outcome not as obvious as you expect, Intrigued me enough to listen to the 2nd book and now I am hooked on the series

Better the second time around.

I read this book first and then decided to listen to audio version several years later. While I actually enjoyed the story more the second time around, I did not enjoy the performance. I found the english/french versions of Gamache very distracting, irritating and unnecessary. I know Penny indicates that he speaks like a British royal in english, but I found the switch too jarring.

The story is wonderful. Penny has great storytelling ability. If you enjoy cozy mysteries then this series does not disappoint.

What a great Canadian mystery

I thoroughly enjoyed the depth of characters and lively descriptions in this small town mystery. I'm definitely looking for the next book💕