How the Light Gets In

How the Light Gets In is the 9th book in the Inspector Gamanche series and my first introduction to author Louise Penny. It reminds me a great deal of starting with book 10 of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series. While Nesbo is all heavy metal thunder, Penny feels more like lite pop. It's Dimmu Borgir vs Box's L'Affaire Dumoutier.

Both stories speak to a larger arc established in earlier books and feature a generous cast of characters that circle the protagonist to help hime solve the crime. But while Nesbo's cold clime is dark, grey and punishing, Penny paints an idyllic small Quebec town with cozy hearths and smiling faces. I want to live in Three Pines, grab a book at Myrna's bookstore and cozy up next to the fire at Olivier and Gabri's Bed and Breakfast with 3 fingers of scotch to talk poetry with Ruth and her duck. Vacationing in Nesbo's Norway seems like an invitation to a mugging. How the Light Gets In is more a nod to classic Agatha Christie. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot reimagined as Canucks.