Author: Louise Penny

Thanks to my friend Moreen who introduced me to this author and loaned me this book. This book is #1 in the series; the one I read earlier was #11 but many of the same characters make an appearance in both.

This book introduces Chief Inspector Armand Gamache but by book #11 he has retired. I can hardly wait to read the ones in between.

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Author: Jo Nesbo

I have to say that I was disappointed in the book. I read another of his books, featuring the same detective, and I loved it. This book focused more on how Detective Harry Hole’s life was coming apart at the seams due to his drinking and obsession with the crimes he was solving.

My review of another book by this author:

The author is compared to Stieg Larsson of “The Girl” fame. This book is set in Oslo and it was difficult remembering the names of all the characters. As it turned out you only really needed to keep a few of them straight. The main character is a police officer that is trying to solve one of the first serial killer crimes in Norway. All through the book I speculated about “who done it” but, in the end, I was way off base. By the last 200 pages I was itching to read ahead just to relieve the tension. If you like crime novels, this is a good one.

Author: Nele Neuhaus

This police procedural is written by another European author (German) that I’ll probably read more of.

It is the Christmas season and a sniper is killing people on a regular basis. As the police try to find out who the sniper is and what his or her motivation might be, a string of other crimes are revealed.

Goodreads Rating * * * *