A World of Curiosities

After a weak few books, I'm glad to see I'm enjoying this series again. We're back in the Three Pines, we're well-fed off Gabri's food, and the neighbors are (mostly) just as delightful as they used to be. Things do feel a tad...messy, however.

I don't want to get too far into the plot of this book since it is a mystery after all, but I do feel like it's noteworthy to mention that two real life events are referenced in this book, and play a role in the mystery: a graduation honoring the (real life) tragedy of the École Polytechnique massacre, and a giant reproduction of (the real life) The Paston Treasure being found in an walled off attic space in the Three Pines. The mystery revolves around how the painting got there, why this particular painting was given modern touches in its reproduction, and what role two siblings play in both the murder of their mother when they were children and the current events happening in Three Pines.

There's a lot going on in this one. I think that the author should have chosen to focus on either (major plot spoilers here) Fiona and Sam as the killer(s), or John Fleming as the mastermind, but not both. I feel like the siblings are just in the story to serve as misdirections to conceal the true plot, but they don't even really have much of an impact that way either. It just felt unnecessary to have both, and muddied the case even more than it already was. A lot relied on coincidence and timing too, which drove me up a wall. My brain kept feeding me reasons why this whole thing would have fallen apart if Gamache or anyone else at all had done even one thing differently, which took me out of the story a bit.

Still, this kept me reading to the end, as a good story will. I just feel like these books are getting messier and messier.