The Cruelest Month
2007 • 615 pages

Ratings68

Average rating4.1

15

Starred Review. Chief Insp. Armand Gamache and his team investigate another bizarre crime in the tiny Québec village of Three Pines in Penny's expertly plotted third cozy (after 2007's A Fatal Grace). As the townspeople gather in the abandoned and perhaps haunted Hadley house for a séance with a visiting psychic, Madeleine Favreau collapses, apparently dead of fright. No one has a harsh word to say about Madeleine, but Gamache knows there's more to the case than meets the eye. Complicating his inquiry are the repercussions of Gamache having accused his popular superior at the Sûreté du Québec of heinous crimes in a previous case. Fearing there might be a mole on his team, Gamache works not only to solve the murder but to clear his name. Arthur Ellis Award–winner Penny paints a vivid picture of the French-Canadian village, its inhabitants and a determined detective who will strike many Agatha Christie fans as a 21st-century version of Hercule Poirot.

Become a Librarian

Series

Featured Series

17 primary books18 released books

#3 in Chief Inspector Gamache Mysteries

Chief Inspector Gamache Mysteries is a 18-book series with 17 primary works first released in 2005 with contributions by Louise Penny.

#1
Still Life
#2
A Fatal Grace
#3
The Cruelest Month
#4
A Rule Against Murder
#5
The Brutal Telling
#6
Bury Your Dead

Reviews

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

These books are so weird and I'm almost hate reading them, but I have #4 on my bedside table ...


Top Lists

See all (70)

List

1,308 books

Fiction

The Book of Lost Things
The Manual of Detection
Flowers for Algernon
The Good Earth
Blindspot

List

199 books

Mystery

Still Life / A Fatal Grace / The Cruelest Month
A dangerous place
A Fatal Grace
White Trash Zombie Gone Wild
Midnight Crossroad

List

30 books

Series

The Blackest Heart
The Forgetting Moon
The Lonesome Crown
The Tyranny of Faith
How the Light Gets In

Related Books

Books

7 books

Readers of This Book Also Enjoyed

If you enjoyed this book, then our algorithm says you may also enjoy these.

Feral Omega
Maus: Historia de un sobreviviente II: Y Aquí Comenzaron Mis Problemas
Of Dawn and Darkness
A Walk Across the Sun
Dungeons and Noobs
Sally Ride