My first impression of this series was that Ms. Penny really loves description: almost too many adjectives for my tastes. I say "almost" because after a while I barely noticed them as the story took over.

This falls into the not-quite-cozy genre, a rather gentle mystery in the "Midsomer" mold. M. Gamache's first foray into the world of the Anglais Three Pines is, I hope, a hint of equally good books to come. It feels odd to say that, because my recent mystery reads have been darker (Stephen Booth, for example) yet something about this one spoke to me. And the solution? It was not telegraphed, and even a bit surprising.