"Oh, the raptures of a first novel that also inaugurates a mystery series! It's like your first piece of birthday cake as a kid..."

Love that opening.

It would give me a major happy if you read this book, knowing it's the least accomplished of them all. Kindle it?

Done.

*mist*

Martinis await. Must dash.

Kindle has it on sale for $2.99....score.

Richard wrote: "*mist*

Martinis await. Must dash."

Away with you.

Excellent apologia for the reading of literary mystery! It sounds like I have been missing a lot of good story-telling and rollicking good fun.

Steve, there is so much good to say about the writing that's happening in the so-called genres. I hope you're convinced to dash out and give Louise Penny some of your money, because I strongly suspect she will give you back hours of pleasure.

I'd say that you've met your burden of proof. I'm especially drawn to all the exotic-international settings. Anywhere but where I currently am!

excellent review and i loved the defence of good story telling. You are right Grisham and Patterson know their craft. This has always been my outlook about the totally forgotten Hugh Walpole. He was not a literary giant but told an excellent story

Hugh Walpole! The Bright Pavilions, Above the dark circus, The Inquisitor! I hadn't even though of him since my resurrect-bygone-Brits phase in the 1980s. Quite right, he was a top-drawer story teller. Why, I wonder, doesn't he get any respect? Like his American counterpart, Louis Auchincloss, a good storyteller who has no lit'r'ry meddit per the nose-in-air crowd.

Have never heard of Mr Auchincloss so maybe I should take a look. I still read Walpole on a regular basis. the Herries Chronicles were great but my favourites were 'The dark Forest' and 'The secret City' both set in Russia towards the end of the Great War and around the fall of the Tsarist monarchy. Again storytelling. When I have tried to describe his style I have called him the John Grisham of the 1930's. Not for the content but for the yarn

Try Auchincloss's Portrait in Brownstone...about the waning days of America's first plutocracy.

Auchincloss's chief claim to fame is that he was Jackie Kennedy's stepfather. Rather sad, that.

BTW I bought this one based on your rec.

Dear Richard, I'm really mystified by this book. It screams COZY and yet you and other readers I respect are saying read it. Confused reader from Kansas.

Steve wrote: "BTW I bought this one based on your rec."

Now for the reading part. *popcorn bowl* I await your review.

Count me in as sitting up and taking notice...

Jeffrey wrote: "Dear Richard, I'm really mystified by this book. It screams COZY and yet you and other readers I respect are saying read it. Confused reader from Kansas."

Dear Confused in Kansas,

"Cozy" is not a term of opprobrium in a properly oriented person's bookiverse. "Christian fiction" (there's a redundancy for you) is the lowest, most scurrilous insult; "well-told story" is the highest praise. "Cozy" merely indicates which branch of the river of words we're paddlin' in.

Hope this helps,
Gawd

Bill wrote: "Count me in as sitting up and taking notice..."

Hope that will lead to your enjoyment of the series, Bill!

Richard wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "Dear Richard, I'm really mystified by this book. It screams COZY and yet you and other readers I respect are saying read it. Confused reader from Kansas."

Dear Confused in Kansas,..."

Dear Gawd, I wasn't thinking of Cozy as disgraceful. I've read good books in all genres, but if a book is categorized as paranormal romance for example it does take a bit more push for me to decide to read it. There is nothing wrong with preferences in reading. I've read good cozy books I just don't prefer them. Good writing, as you say, can override genre preferences. This book series intrigues me thanks for the clarification. No Longer as Confused in Kansas

You're a better man than I am! I won't even read books with teenagers in them anymore, no matter who recommends them. Just cannot do it. As for paranormal romance, well, that's a step below "christian fiction" in the insult derby.

Richard wrote: "You're a better man than I am! I won't even read books with teenagers in them anymore, no matter who recommends them. Just cannot do it. As for paranormal romance, well, that's a step below "christ..."

When I worked in the bookstore business about once a year I'd have to call the staff together and remind them not to be snooty to people looking for books of the "wrong" sort. When people ask for recommendations ask them what book they liked recently. If they say Danielle Steele for instance don't recommend William Gaddis even though he may be your cultural hero. To me people who read anything are a cut above people who read nothing, zilch, zippo...haven't read a book since high school. Do I have my own book prejudices, sure, but they are not chiseled in stone. I worded my question incorrectly so I can understand how you might have felt that I was passing judgment on a book termed "cozy".

"If that doesn't make you sprint out to get this book, nothing else I can say will."

Sold! (I let my fingers do the sprinting) Great review, and I like your argument.

Jeffrey wrote: "To me people who read anything are a cut above people who read nothing, zilch, zippo...haven't read a book since high school."

Agreed, almost 100%. Reading puts you in the game; not reading correlates with brain-dead TV. It's just a hypothesis, but I like it.

Hey -- Thanks to you I just bought this one. Amazon has it for only $2.99 in Kindle format, I couldn't resist. You are a bad, bad person.

Contrarius wrote: "Hey -- Thanks to you I just bought this one. Amazon has it for only $2.99 in Kindle format, I couldn't resist. You are a bad, bad person."

*batbatbat* Li'l ole moi? Pshaw!

Yeah.....you and Amazon...."psssst! Hey, lil girl! Ya want some candy?? First hit's only $2.99!!"

I'm such a completist, if the first one's any good I'll *have* to read the whole series.....gateway books, I tell ya, ya gotta watch out for em....

The first is far far far and away the least accomplished of the series. It was her first novel, and it shows. I still liked the book. BUT by book three, I was ready to send for my trunks and move parts and parcels to Three Pines.

I'll make sure not to give up before then. But I gotta read em in order -- makes me twitchy not to. And I enjoy watching series and authors develop over the course of several books. :)

And I don't even *read* "cozy" mysteries. You're corrupting me more than you know!

*evil Muttley laugh* My work here is done.

Evil, evil, evil. The first three paragraphs alone have already made me start smiling. I may be lost....

Wait. You haven't met Ruth yet.

Heh.

Here you go, you evil pusher -- http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Hey Richard -- I've finally got my mom started on this one. She claims to be loving it so far, but she may just be humoring me. The jury is still out. I'm currently listening to the audio versions, now on #2. When I get back up to the point in the series where I quit reading, I'll continue on from there. Hopefully I will have made my peace with Penny being mean to my pal Armand by then...

The jury will produce its verdict in its own sweet time...can't hurry the harvest when you're working with the land instead of against it.

La Penny is a very easy to love writer, but she isn't for everyone. The pace is stately. Gamache et sa femme are pretty traditional bourgeois folks. If that world holds no appeal, well, the books will fall flat as an Arizona soufflé.

Well, she appreciates everything from Elmore Leonard to Alexander McCall Smith, so there's no telling. I'll let ya know how it turns out.

k

Dear Richard; I just read your review of Still Life; I love your review almost as much as much as I'm loving Still Life. Thank you.

So glad to hear it, Genine! I hope the rest of the series works its magic on you, too.

I'm about 2/3 through, and a sure sign that I'm in love with an author is the overwhelming urge to read his/her writing aloud to anyone who'll listen (or to those who don't want to but have to be polite to me.) I'm reading a great deal of this book to others.