"The Brutal Telling"

Louise Penny is an award-winning journalist who worked for many years for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her bestselling first mystery, Still Life, was the winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards; her second, A Fatal Grace, won the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel; her fourth, A Rule Against Murder, was a New York Times bestseller.

Penny applied the Page 69 Test to The Brutal Telling, the fifth novel in the Three Pines mystery series, and reported the following:

Amazingly enough, page 69 is quite a bit like the rest of The Brutal Telling. Indeed, I’d suggest, for the time challenged, you simply read it. Forget the rest. Just filler, really.

On page 69 you get the cops discussing one of the mysteries of the murder, how come no one saw a light on at the bistro? Next morning we see Chief Inspector Gamache walking quietly around the village green, and we get some of the atmosphere of the tiny Quebec village of Three Pines. It’s Labour Day weekend and kids and families are preparing to return to the city. Gamache muses on the first day of school. On the pristine work books and sharpened pencils, when anything is possible and no mistakes had yet been made.

And he wonders about their young investigation. Had they marred their books yet? Made any mistakes?

Finally, at the bottom of page 69 – and as you know the bottom is always the best part of 69 - you get one of Gabri’s famous breakfasts at the B&B. Maple-cured back bacon, eggs, frothy café au lait and croissants.

Honestly, what more could you want in a page?

Read an excerpt of The Brutal Telling, and learn more about the book and author at Louise Penny's website and blog.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue