Even though I have read all the Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny, this is my first review of one (I think)!

The reader is so invested in the characters, one experiences their pain, fear, and anger, but also their love. While brave and capable in the face of danger, he’s more of a thinking man; some might mistake him for a college professor. Additionally, Fleming isn’t charismatic or charming; he’s terrifying, and the novel describes both Gamache and Beauvoir’s feelings of horror in Fleming’s presence. I struggled with this before realizing that a book this special deserves an exception to my personal rules. They soon discovered that she had also trafficked her children, 13-year-old Fiona and 10-year-old Sam, and that the crime was even more tragic than they imagined.A World of Curiosities was able to combine several mysteries within its pages that seamlessly wove together by the conclusion. Gamache observes their behavior and wonders if such despicable treatment can ever really be rehabilitated in any acceptable fashion. When the residents realized which house and attic the letter was referring to they unanimously decided to take down the brick wall.

The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Soon thereafter, a secret room in one of the community’s buildings is discovered and the whole town wants to be part of the action. There are hints of the first couple of books in the series that blew my socks off, but then it just all fades away around the 60 percent mark. At one point, reading in bed late at night, my mouth watering over the wild mushroom ravioli with sage brown butter, relishing a look back at the early days between Jean-Guy and his patron, my heart is racing a bit at developing events, my brain wondering how much further to go.Everyone, he reflects, has a secret room; he has one in his home’s basement, full of old case files. and then had to figure out who Fiona, Sam, Harriet, Godit, the pastor and his wife, Nathalie, witches, John, the caretaker. They have a big festival there about ducks, and there’s this huge fresco with ducks in the very old inn – that inspired the café. Way too many coincidences were required for this story; and the citizens of Three Pines know absolutely every single random fact. The attic copy of the Paston painting is subtly altered with sinister additions, and Gamache is certain it's the work of his sworn enemy, serial killer John Fleming.

Fortunately, Agent Amelia Choquet, a young agent with a troubled past who began working with the police force after Gamache helped her get into the police academy, comes to their aid. to present day, or wait, sort of present day but not really, and an event based on an actual event that impacted the people sitting in an auditorium present day, but wait, is it now, or now adjacent?The detectives are investigating multiple homicides in the village, with clues about the killer centering around a mysterious painting. As Gamache’s worries increase, he attempts to keep his family safe and narrows down a pool of men who could be Fleming in disguise.

The closest I could come to was that there is a series-long character who is essentially absent from the story.A WORLD OF CURIOSITIES is filled with misdirection and red herrings at every turn, even though the clues are there. In her acknowledgments, Penny references the tragedy that inspired the characters of Harriet and Fiona: the mass murder at the Polytechnic University in Quebec on Dec. Penny delves into the nature of evil, sensitively exploring the impact of the dreadful events she describes while bringing a warmth and humanity to her disparate cast of characters that, unusually for a crime novel, leaves you feeling better about the world once you’ve finished.