The Brutal Telling

(Book 5)

The wise and beleaguered Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns to Three Pines in The Brutal Telling, the fifth book in Louise Penny’s #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Chaos is coming, old son.

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. Everybody goes to Olivier’s Bistro—including a stranger whose murdered body is found on the floor. When Chief Inspector Gamache is called to investigate, he is dismayed to discover that Olivier’s story is full of holes. Why are his fingerprints all over the cabin that’s uncovered deep in the wilderness, with priceless antiques and the dead man’s blood? And what other secrets and layers of lies are buried in the seemingly idyllic village?

Gamache follows a trail of clues and treasures—from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spiderweb with a word mysteriously woven in it—into the woods and across the continent, before returning to Three Pines to confront the truth and the final, brutal telling.

Excerpt

“All of them? Even the children?” The fireplace sputtered and crackled and swallowed his gasp.

“Slaughtered?”

“Worse.” There was silence then. And in that hush lived all the things that could be worse than slaughter.

“Are they close?” His back tingled as he imagined something dreadful creeping through the woods. Toward them. He looked around, almost expecting to see red eyes staring through the dark windows. Or from the corners, or under the bed.

“All around. Have you seen the light in the night sky?”

“I thought those were the Northern Lights.” The pink and green and white shifting, flowing against the stars. Like something alive, glowing, and growing. And approaching. Olivier Brulé lowered his gaze, no longer able to look into the troubled, lunatic eyes across from him. He’d lived with this story for so long, and kept telling himself it wasn’t real. It was a myth, a story told and repeated and embellished over and over and over. Around fires just like theirs.

Reading Group Guide

A theme in this book, and many of Louise’s books, is the difference between “truth” and “opinion.” Is it always important to tell the truth, no matter how brutal it may be?
Was Olivier really wrong to give Madame Poirier less money for her furniture than he knew it was worth? Isn’t that what we all hope we’ll find at antique shops or flea markets? A treasure? Would you do differently?

Located in the Equitable Building in Manhattan, Minotaur Books publishes bestselling and award-winning crime fiction ranging from thrillers and suspense to traditional mysteries. Minotaur has published Louise Penny since 2007.

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LOUISE PENNY’S

CHIEF INSPECTOR GAMACHE SERIES