A Trick of
the Light is pretty traditional Louise Penny. The plot centers around Clara, who has finally struck it rich in the art world and secured a major
one woman show, only to discover on the night of her celebratory party that
there is a body in her garden. Inspector Gamache rides to the rescue again in Three Pines-- a community that seems attract murders and murderers like a super magnet going after iron filings.
Chiaroscuro, the play of light and dark in Clara's in Clara’s portrait of Ruth Yardo is the philosophical hinge that
stitches together the various plot lines.
We have artists striving for
notice and fame. We have venal agents and gallery owners fighting to represent
them. We have recovering alcoholics
littering the landscape. And finally we have Gamache and Jean Guy still
suffering from the darkness of their various guilts over the horrid factory shooting that ended
with Gamach and Jean Guy wounded and four Surete agents killed. Amidst all this
sadness the question continues to be Is there hope at the end of evil or is
their always evil lingering at the bottom of hope?
I am not
sure why I did not find all this compelling. Maybe all this talk about artists
and their egos is just too much for me because it reminds me of my opinion of the
musical Chorus Line, which I feel is way too self indulgent. Maybe the patterns are getting too obvious even if the books continue to be well written. We have another denouement in a violent storm.
We have the usual surprise turn of events to unmask the killer. We
have lots more good eats and drink in the Bistro lovingly described. We take walks and sit on the park bench with Ruth. Are there just too many
nasty twisted characters?
Reading her books in order is almost a necessity but I do look
forward to the next book's change of scenery, which is a Monastery and not Three Pines.
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