I’m pretty sure that I’ve read this a long time ago, but this was before I started writing down my reviews so I have absolutely no recollection of what I thought about this the first time I read it. And honestly, this felt like a new-to-me book which I loved so much.

The third book in the Inspector Gamache series, The Cruellest Month starts with a woman being frightened to death. Or is this a murder? Inspector Gamache goes back to Three Pines to investigate, all the while enduring a smear campaign that threatens to destroy his family. On the Three Pine’s side, Clara is frantically trying to finish a painting before a big art-world hotshot comes and Ruth is raising ducks. (This sounds like the lives of Three Pines residents are comedic but I promise you it’s not)

Reading this while knowing how things turn out in later books made me so impressed with Louise Penny. I saw threads of what would later become bigger plot points in the story being planted, as well as how she very cleverly crafted three-dimensional portraits of the characters. Two people that stood out – Jean Guy’s loyalty to Gamache (it makes so much sense when I think of how the relationship between the two develops) and Clara and Peter’s relationship (which culminates in Book 10, which is mostly about them; that’s a seven-book character arc that is very slightly started here!)

Balancing the character development are two well-paced mysteries. First, who killed Hazel, the woman who was scared to death? There are small clues found as the case progresses and the reveal, when it comes, makes perfect sense. The second mystery is about the smear campaign against Gamache – who is really against him? Here, it’s easy to think that the reader has the upper hand and all the information, but there’s still a twist in this part of the story.

Speaking of the mystery, I want to digress a little here and talk about the genre of the book. I remember thinking that the Inspector Gamache series is classified as a cosy mystery (probably because of reviews like this one from the Washington Post, which uses the words “cozy mystery” in the title). But, I’m not sure if that’s the case. Penny doesn’t hesitate to expose the darker side of society, such as the murders of indigenous Canadians; that was a heartbreaking portion of the book that made me think “nope, not a cosy”. On the other hand, books that I think of as “cosy” also sometimes include elements of non-cosy elements, like A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (the Queen of Cosy, in my opinion) and the Fairacre series. I suppose there is a tension between making the story feel cosy and not shying away from darker topics if needed, which makes it hard to classify books like this.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book! It’s so well-written, with a gripping mystery and well-developed characters that you feel like you know personally. I’m glad I picked this up with the other second-hand books and I’m so tempted to do a reread of the entire series now!