“The Beautiful Mystery” - Louise Penny

 (C.I Gamache book 8)

🎼 Penny delves into the history and secrets of the Catholic Church; she hones in on one specific conflict within the Church and asks the age-old question: which faction is closer to the original truth? It becomes less about truth and more about power, as such conflicts develop historically. TBM gives “DaVinci Code” vibes.

🎼 Penny is talented at providing a heavily detailed historical backstory and weaving it into the plot of the mystery. Here, it’s the history of the Catholic Church; previously it’s been the history of Quebec.  

🎼 TBM finds us at an intersection between the “malady” growing within the Sûreté, the malady within the walls of the abbey of St. Gilbert, and that within Beauvoir’s mind as he battles addiction. 

🎼 24 monks residing in an extremely (intentionally) remote abbey - it’s your classic country house murder mystery, but with many more layers. And although none of it takes place in Three Pines, I was surprised to learn that the plotting is so intricate, I didn’t even miss my favorite murder village.

🎼 Penny leaves us on tenterhooks with regards to Beauvoir. Sadly, the wait for book 9 at my library was 20 weeks 😭.