Still Life / A Fatal Grace / The Cruelest Month

I enjoyed this novel. It is the first in a series involving Inspector Gamache, written by Louise Penny. Penny's most recent novel has gotten a lot of great reviews so I thought I would start the series.
There is definitely a first novel feeling to “Still Life.” It dragged in some spots and there were elements of the book that had no direction. But about a quarter into the book, I wanted to know more about the characters and who had murdered sweet Jane Neal, an fixture in the small town of Three Pines. It had a satisfying ending & I will be picking up more novels written by Louise Penny.