54 pages 1 hour read

The Brutal Telling

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

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Background

Literary Context: Louise Penny and the Inspector Gamache Series

Louise Penny is a beloved Canadian author whose Inspector Gamache mystery series has been a worldwide sensation for decades—starting with the publication of Still Life in 2007. Penny has published 18 mystery novels centered on Sûreté Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, a character inspired by her late husband. The setting of Three Pines is inspired by the small town of Sutton in Quebec, Canada, over the border from northern Vermont. Still Life was well received, and in 2022, Amazon Prime premiered a miniseries based on Inspector Gamache and Three Pines called Three Pines.

The Inspector Gamache mystery series follows the mysteries and developments of characters in the Sûreté and village of Three Pines outside of Montreal. Three Pines is characterized by its peace and quiet—but also its rampant crimes. Because the village is so secluded from city life, it can hide secrets, which makes it a prime setting for mystery and intrigue. Three Pines is characterized by its community, as the villagers are close-knit and generous with one another. It is an idyllic setting that attracts people who want a reprieve from the consumerist mentality of the 21st century.

Inspector Gamache is the hero of the series. He is consistently ingenious in solving complex cases, but also believes in the humanity of people. Despite all the evil he’s seen, he believes people are mostly good. While Penny’s novels explore the depths that desperate people can go to, at its heart, they celebrate the power of community and love despite the evils of the world.

Literary Context: The Mystery Genre

Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache novels are modern-day thrillers in the mystery genre. The Brutal Telling exemplifies the tropes of the mystery genre: It tells the story of a crime—a murder—that is investigated until a resolution is found. Nineteenth-century authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle popularized the genre, setting up a foundation for later mystery authors like Agatha Christie and John Grisham. Mystery narratives begin with a hook that piques the reader’s interest and sets the tone. The hook is important because it alludes to—or even reveals—the genesis of the mystery that will be explored. In The Brutal Telling, the hook is in the first chapter, when the reader is given pieces of a strange mythological story punctuated by Olivier’s fear. This hook presents the idea that something is wrong in Three Pines and makes the reader suspicious of Olivier from the start.

The mystery genre invites the reader to participate in the mystery like a detective would. This connection is important to the rising tension and reveal of clues, as the reader is meant to create their own theories as they read. In The Brutal Telling, Penny uses dramatic irony and foreshadowing to invite her reader to participate alongside Inspector Gamache. The reader shares Gamache’s perspective, but is also privy to hints that he has yet to understand. For example, the reader knows from the start that Olivier knows the dead Hermit, but it takes Gamache several chapters to learn this. However, Penny also offsets her use of dramatic irony with red herrings, distractions from the truth. For example, the long-lost Vincent Gilbert is a red herring because he is given a great deal of focus but ultimately has nothing to do with the Hermit’s murder. Red herrings help layer a mystery and invite different theories. Overall, mystery novels should end with a resolution. In The Brutal Telling, many questions are left unanswered, but there is still a resolution: Olivier is arrested for the Hermit’s murder.

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