A World of Curiosities

*** SELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE GUARDIAN ***''Electrifying drama'' BOOK OF THE MONTH, THE TIMES''This is a hugely satisfying mystery of course, but more than that, it''s a chilling morality tale. Nobody does evil quite as scarily as Louise Penny'' ANN CLEEVESIt''s spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge. But something has. As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the investigators'' lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they''ve arrived in the village of Three Pines. But to what end?As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. When the room is found, and the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there''s more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge. In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache''s home.''Penny delves into the nature of evil, sensitively exploring the impact of the dreadful events she describes while bringing a warmth and humanity to her disparate cast of characters that, unusually for a crime novel, leaves you feeling better about the world once you''ve finished'' BOOK OF THE MONTH, OBSERVER''Crime writing of the highest order'' DAILY MAIL ''No one does atmospheric quite like Louise Penny'' ELLY GRIFFITHS