The Long Way Home

The pretentiousness got old very quickly. Twenty chapters about art. Got to be a slog. Time to take a break from Three Pines.I am not Sharla Jane, btw. I am Gordon, her husband.

The people of Three Pines are as much the star of this series as Armand Gamache. Never is that more true than in The Long Way Home. Peter Morrow and his wife Clara have experienced, at Clara's command a one year separation. But he does not come home.at the years end. Why? Where is he? Gamache is retired living in Three Pines full time. Isabel LaCoste has replaced him as Chief Inspector of the homicide division of the Surete. Jean Guy Behavior is married to Gamache's daughter Annie. And the whole community is concerned about what Peter's absence means. Thus Three Pines stands with Clara in her search unsure whether the finding of Peter will be a good answer to her pain -- or not.

This is the tenth book in the series and reading them has brought joy - the kind of feeling that I’m a part of the three pines world. This book was full of “who done it” mystery and deep believable insights of human nature. It’s a tale of choices we make to be better than before, to have courage and faith that we can evolve regardless…

Although this book was a change from the Louise Penny' s previous books in the Gamache series, I thoroughly enjoyed it.I found it a bit more thought provoking and with more funny lines than most of her books. It was a nice change for me, but I would rather she return to her previous style.Ralph Cosham is amazing in his ability to change into different characters frequently and quickly. He smoothly keeps the book moving and enjoyable. He is my favorite reader, and I listen to a great many books.

You will want to read this, and then read it again. There is so much going on. Not confusing, but deep. And you need time to see the layers.

How does Louise Penny do it—pack a murder mystery with whimsy and so much heart? This is the first one of her books I’ve read, and I want more of her humor, characters and landscapes that speak of love, loss, fear, courage and faith in each other.

The best series of murder mysteries I have ever read, and I have read a lot!! Mysteries I never manage to guess the end of. Absolutely fascinating characters, believable and who grow through each book and into the next. And the sex is left up to your imagination.

In Game he fashion, the story began simply in Three Pines.one morning Clara asked Armand to locate her missing husband. That changed everything. There is art, friendships, love, an asbestos laced painting and...Peters art. Twist and turns caused me to wonder where it would lead. Would Peter Morrow be found. Read the book.to find out

Total disclosure: I am about 40 percent into the book and it is just not holding my interest like all the past books. My favorite was The Beautiful Mystery -- a really fine book with great who-dunnit qualities. I missed that in The Long Way Home. The missing person, Peter, is someone I never bonded with in any of the past books -- with the possible exception of a very early one in the series. I am sorry to say I think I will set The Long Way Home aside. It's starting to feel like a giant therapy session with 7 or 8 people trying to decipher a bunch of abstract paintings. Gamache himself is emotionally wounded, and he is the most interesting person for me, but this particular book feels a bit like it is intentionally protracting his journey of self-discovery.

I usually give most of the books in this series a 5 Star. I enjoyed it as much as I have the others I’ve read, but I wouldn’t say it was quite as “thrilling” as the others. It was more in the classic murder mystery mode. I think to some folks this would be more to their liking.

I love the Gamache series but have realized that the beauty in these books lies in the depth and nuance of the inner monologues of the characters as well as their relationships to others. the mysteries almost seem like an aside which are not enitrely essentail to the real stories of the people.This was especially apparent in this book, as I kept reading due to the gorgeous portraits of rural Quebec and the compelling personal journies of the main characters. However, the storyline of the murder itself strained credulity to an extent that it brought me outside of Penny’s meticulously constructed world and made me a judge rather than an onlooker in thre story. The fact that such an unlikely storyline had such a dramatic and lasting impact on the main characters was even more puzzling.I will read on, as I love conjuring up visions of Montreal, the Eastern Townships, and random corners of Quebec and appreciate the meticulously crafted characters and all their flaws. The mysteries will remain secondary.

Another in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, in which Armand opts to help one of the Three Pines members, a friend, even though he is retired. And he takes Jean-Guy with him with the approval of the new Chief Inspector, Isabelle LaCoste.As he leaves Three Pines to find where Peter Morrow has gone, where he might be, several other members of the little community accompany him and soon they find themselves enmeshed in a mystery of who painted which artistic masterpieces, who painted the pictures that couldn't have been worse. Soon, Armand finds that what was upright really should have been turned upside down, the better to fully understand what happened to Peter in his quest: for the tenth muse? or something or someone else?Complex and confusing, but a worthy read.

The Long Way Home(Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #10)Armand has retired to Three Pines now and greatly enjoying the peace of his retirement. Jean-Guy is now healthy and enjoying life with Annie Gamache. Louise Penny with some efforts from the last novel now ties Armand Gamache with the Three Pines folks.This is definitely not a book to read unless you have already read the preceding books and have come to know and love all the main characters. Louise Penny introduces each character with such depth that you feel that you know them, no matter how small a role that character has in the book. Without that attachment to the people in the story I think things might prove very slow and perhaps a bit too tedious.After such a great novel in last Gamache installment this one changes direction. Most of Three Pines leave the idyllic village to find one of their own. They go through out Europe which leads them to back Canada to some interesting and remote parts with Jean Guy in tow.After reading “How the Light Gets In” which was a heart pounding and breathtaking ride The Long Way Home is a slower story pace much like those from books 1&2, but I did enjoy learning more about some of the character backgrounds, and I look forward to visiting Three Pines again.

In Louise Penny’s The Long Way Home, Inspector Gamache has retired from law enforcement and settled in Three Pines. However, Clara Morrow’s husband, Peter, is not home in Three Pines, and his wife fears the worst. Clara hates to disturb Gamache, but she asks for his help. He agrees, and together they travel to a remote part of Canada, to search for her husband. Will they find Peter, or will they wish they had left well enough alone.The Long Way Home is the tenth novel in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series. Penny continues to distinguish herself as an excellent writer and a keen observer of human nature. Each character is deep, sympathetic, but all are capable of wrongdoing. This story feels distinctly unique, perhaps because of the setting in which it takes place. The construction of the plot is also different which leads to a climax that seems unsettling. However, Gamache is still one of my favorite characters in fiction because Penny takes care to make him thoroughly authentic and genuine. The only drawback of The Long Way Home is the unnecessary use of foul language. Regardless, Louise Penny is an extraordinary storyteller, and her gift leaves the reader wanting more after the book ends.

What a wonderful thing it was to return to Louise Penny and Three Pines! I had been a fan since Still Life and then A Beautiful Mystery left me heartbroken at the fate of the characters that I had followed. So heartbroken and concerned that I left the series for a bit. That was my loss. Louise Penny writes a very fine literary mystery. The early volumes were police procedurals with little touches of the magical and mysterious. Now in this volume, our hero Armand Gamache has retired as chief homicide detective of the Montreal police and retired to Three Pines with his wife Reine Marie so the police procedural aspects of the story are diminished but not absent. Chief Gamache has come to know Three Pines well from previous homicide investigations and they have many friends in the village. The story begins when Clara sits on a bench with Gamache and finally tells him that she is worried about her estranged husband Peter. This is a series that should be read in order or you will not know the characters, the setting or be able to follow the story with the same attachment. Louise Penny has created memorable characters that a reader can care about. The series is set in Canada and setting is an integral part of the story. From the mythical Three Pines to much of Quebec Province and in this book, way East to a small village on the St. Laurence River. The series and this book have many references to art, beauty, and philosophy that I find interesting and enlightening. Her pacing is good, and she does a very good job of creating suspense and tension. Louise Penny is a very skilled writer and there were several places in her book where I had to pause and just appreciate how she had expressed key insights. For example, the passage that ends with “living in the wreckage of her future” and again when talking about jealousy “like drinking acid and expecting the other person to die”. Her books are not formulaic genre junk by any measure. I appreciate the basic decency and kindness of many of the continuing characters which our author creates without being sappy. Ruth is just a wonderful character and her poetry is always entertaining. There is no sex and not much graphic violence even as the characters do battle with evil. Louise Penny’s books have always been a series that we have followed like those by Martin Walker, Paul Doiron, Peter May, Ann Cleeves, Mark Pryor, Elly Griffiths, Jean-Luc Bannalec and few others. My husband has gotten ahead of me on Louise Pryor, but now I have the pleasure of catching up.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamanche has retired from the Quebec Surete. He and his wife have moved from Montreal to the village of Three Pines, not far from the Vermont border. Three Pines is the place Gamanche finds a sense of peace and rest, even though it has been the scene of so many murders investigated by Gamanche.One of the Three Pines residents is Clara Morrow, an artist who rather unexpectedly became something of a sensation with a recent show in Montreal. Her husband Peter had been the nationally recognized artist in the family, until Clara’s show. And then it appeared she had surpassed him. Peter reacted badly, so badly that he tried to sabotage her work.The Morrows had agreed to separate for a year, and then meet to decide if their marriage could survive. The year passes, and Clara hears nothing. Finally, she asks Gamanche to help find Peter. Gamanche asks his long-time Surete assistant and now son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, to help. The clues are sparse. They discover Peter had gone to Paris, Florence, and Venice, and then to a small town in Scotland. The three cities make sense for an artist trying to find himself and renew his art, but a small town in Scotland?Using what appear to be some very bad paintings left with Morrow family members in Toronto, Gamanche and Beauvoir continue their search. The closer they get, the more they find danger, and murder.“The Long Way Home” by Canadian author Louise Penny is the tenth (of twelve) Chief Inspector Gamanche novels. As is Penny’s style and depth, it is an intriguing mystery, but it is also much more – a reflection into what is art, what inspires artists, and what happens when the muse flees. Or is killed.The residents of Three Pines themselves figure as part of the investigating team; it is one of their own who is missing. And Penny has created some of the most memorable ongoing characters in mystery fiction, including the psychologist-turned-bookstore owner Myrna Slater, the celebrated poet with the waspish tongue and four-letter vocabulary Ruth Zardo (and her wonderful duck Rosa), the café and bed-and-breakfast owners Olivier and Gabriel, and now also Reine-Marie, Gamanche’s beloved wife.“The Long Way Home” is vintage Gamanche and vintage Louise Penny, an ugly story of murder, jealousy, and revenge told so beautifully that the ugliness is muted and controlled.

Louise Penny has a way of keeping me deeply involved in this wonderful series revolving around Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and the magical village of Three Pines. These are gripping, realistic mysteries, yet written with such warmth, character, and intelligence that they pulled me into the family, keeping me on edge, yet sure that somehow the truth would come out. The beaurty of these books, in my opinion, is that rather than the frightening and ugly aspects of the crimes, these stories focus your heart and your mind on the people and the purpose that lead to the solution. Possibly because "Long Way Home" is the first of the series I have read with Gamache in retirement, or perhaps because the story traveled far afield from what has come to feel like home to me, I felt somewhat out of place, less involved in this book than all the others. The mystery itself was quite engaging and gave little away. The new settings and adventures were wonderful, coming alive thanks to the exceptional talent of the author. I, however had a difficult time sticking with it. Looking back on this read, I think I felt a bit disoriented as I pondered both the challenging mystery at the heart of the story and the many unfamiliar locations and people involved. Now that I am reading a second story based far from the village with a very different set of characters, I find myself more comfortable because I have learned to focus on the familiar characters and know that Three Pines and its magic are comforting, but Inspector Gamache is the heart of the stories.

I reviewed The Long Way Home below--and I stand by my review. However, I do want to say that, after reading the next two books in the series, I would give all the books in the series before and after The Long Way Home 5 stars. The Long Way Home is a completely anomalous book in an otherwise incredibly good series. I'm so thrilled that Ms. Penny got completely back on track in the two books that followed The Long Way Home.Prior Review for The Long Way Home: I give this book NO STARS at all. Like many of the other disappointed readers, I was so excited to get this book. I pre-ordered it and eagerly awaited its release. The previous books in this series each develop such interesting and compelling characters and relationships; have so much atmosphere; are so intelligent and philosophical; have such good plotting; and are written so beautifully. I've loved every other book in this series. But not this one.First, there were so many "red herrings" that never came to anything, which was frustrating. DON'T READ FURTHER if you don't want any SPOILERS. Was there really a cult? Brought up but never developed. What about that garden? Was it actually magical? What about the rabbits that turned real from stone? Did they or did they not? Why did that matter? I actually looked up the garden, which was very interesting, but its strange manicured nature was completely at odds with how one character appeared to find it as they struggled through a dense wooded area. I would have had a completely erroneous sense of that garden from what happened in the book if I hadn't looked the garden up on the internet.Second, the characters seemed like shells of their former, rich selves. I didn't LIKE any of them any more.Third, why rehabilitate Peter at the end--make it seem as if he had come to terms with his art and with Clara's success--and then KILL him? Frankly, I wondered if Louse Penny simply wanted to get rid of Peter so that she could introduce that art dealer to be a future relationship for Clara. But how is that true to the characters and relationships that she spent books and books developing? I have no problem with Peter dying if it had made sense; but it did not. And, furthermore, the art dealer was such a two dimensional character that I don't want to meet him in a future book.Fourth, if Clara hadn't rushed to see Peter at the end, he wouldn't have ended up dead. What was THAT about? Just a plot problem that had to be resolved in an artificial manner?Fifth, and what about the editing? HOW could they get the name of Ruth's second duck wrong? Didn't the author or the editor check for this kind of mistake?One of the reviewers said they wanted to "throw the book across the room" in frustration and that is exactly how I felt. And I'll go one further: I felt really, really angry. It was if Louise Penny couldn't figure out her mystery, her plot, and her characters--which is so completely at odds with every other book in this series. I can only hope that, if this author has run out of ideas, she ends this series now. It always makes me sad when an author doesn't realize that the time has come to move on.

I am a devoted fan of the Gamache series by Louise Penny, and have read them all in correct sequence, so I was truly looking forward to this latest addition to the saga of Three Pines. I think I understand what the author was trying to accomplish, but it was a major change from the series that came before and ending up, for me, at least, to be a disappointment. Too much very detailed and involved interpretations of art works, a rather bizarre combination of four characters (Gamache, Beauvoir, Myrna and Clara) trying to find Peter in a remote area of the upper St. Lawrence valley and a somewhat contrived conclusion...ending for me in general dissatisfaction. Descriptions of the places and people of that area were often fascinating...making me want to visit the region...but that was not the purpose of their inclusion. There are moments of the old charm involving some of the characters...Ruth and Rosa of the limited vocabulary, for example, and it was interesting to get to know ReineMarie somewhat better. But these moments were scattered and not enough to save the whole. The first nine books, taken in sequence, were a masterpiece. Perhaps she should have stopped there. I have no idea what might be in an eleventh book, but I would give it a try, if she decides to offer us one. I am that much a devoted fan. Ready to give her another chance.This is a later edit of my revue, after re-reading all 10 books in the series, this one does fit in better and I am upping it to four stars. I am still perplexed about some apparent proofing errors, however. Rosa the duck had a sibling, and I know it was not named "Flora", but it is mentioned as "Flora" in this book. Also it seems to me that the use of the accent aigu in the names of Québec and Montréal seems to be casual, often omitted, sometimes included. I havebeen unable to come to a reason for it. Anyway, this is a better book than I had originally thought and reading it directly after #9 in my re-read of all of them, it makes sense and completes a plot line that started way back in earlierbooks. Read it, but only in proper sequence. Now we wait for #11.

This book gets 5 stars for construction and one star for plot. For those who have not read the Inspector Gamache series, you may want to start with earlier books and skip this one. Louise Penny constructed a magical tiny town in the midst of a forest near Montreal, a dream village inside a snow globe, Three Pines. These books feature a wonderful cast of characters, all of whom have escaped former lives to land in the downy comfort of this fairy tale hamlet where life is lived by the scent of freshly baked pastries, coffee aromas and hot toddies in front of a cozy fire. But, of course, no mystical village is perfect.Even in Three Pines, evil always encroaches, drawing Inspector Gamache, former Chief of Homicide for Quebec, back into the real world. Unfortunately, this plot drags the reader back into the world as slowly as a Clydesdale slogging through snow drifts.Clara and Peter, residents of Three Pines, are married artists. Peter has had a modicum of success and Clara was content with Peter in the limelight as she puttered about with her own paintings. Suddenly, one of Clara's portraits sends her reputation soaring and Peter cannot hide his resentment and, rather than being happy for Clara, he is merely jealous and, consequently, mean to Clara. Clara, feeling alone, sends Peter away for one year. At the end of that one year, Peter is supposed to return to Three Pines, having had time to think about his life, and they can decide their future. Clara has missed Peter, they have had no contact, and she has the "reunion" meal ready: steaks, salad, wine, etc, but Peter is a no show. Here is where Ms. Penny begins to insert her knowledge of fine art into the book which simply drags it down and down and down.When a few weeks go by with no word from Peter, Clara becomes increasingly concerned and checks with his relatives - Peter has been to Paris, Venice, Scotland and back to Canada, but nobody has heard from him in several months. Clara enlists Inspector Gamache and the hunt for Peter commences.Peter has mailed some of his recent paintings to a family member and Clara retrieves them. The population of Three Pines is looking for clues in these paintings. As a reader, I felt I was the one carrying the Clydesdale through snow drifts forever as I read about descriptions of paintings which, of course, are not the same as seeing them and, consequently, what the characters in the book are seeing is simply dragging the reader along in hopes that all this critiquing is going somewhere. Well, it is going somewhere but had I known where, I would have given up on this book a lot earlier.If you can slog through this to the end - if I did it, you can - you will be rewarded! It is like the worst ending of a made for TV movie ever. What? Oh, please. All sarcasm aside, Louise Penny writes so beautifully it is hard to believe she actually wrote the final chapters of this book which are so vacuous. She's a great writer who just went off the rails on this one.