Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife Reine are at the Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated,
luxurious, lakefront inn. This is where they spend their annual summer vacation, but this is
also where they’ve come to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
Also at the inn for a family reunion are the Finneys, during which Irene, the matriarch of
this large, eccentric family, is having a massive marble statue installed in the garden, in
memory of her long dead first husband, the father of her children.
During a terrible summer storm the statue falls from its pedestal and crushes one of Irene's
daughters, Julia Martin. There seems to be no way the statue could have moved without human
involvement.
Gamache finds himself investigating what must be a murder. He discovers that there is no
lost between the middle-aged children of Irene Finney's dysfunctional family. All are suspects
to Gamache, but so is the owner-innkeeper, Clemintine Dubois, her chef, Veronique, her maitre
d'hotel Pierre Patenaude, and Elliott, a young waiter. Gamache must uncover hidden motives
and long buried secrets before he can find the murderer and solve the mystery of how the
statue was moved.
A Rule Against Murder is an expertly plotted mystery. It is
filled with suspense. The character development is excellent.
The building which houses the inn is described in rich detail.
The descriptions of the locale are breathtaking. The sense of time
and place is partially evoked with the inclusion of French dialogue.
(You don't need to remember your high school French to understand
it!)
Reviews
of other titles in this series
A
Rule Against Murder #4
A
Trick of the Light #6
A
Long Way Home #10