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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
A murder investigation in a remote monastery
Language
Barely any
Mild language in Penny's measured procedural register
Sexual Content
None
No romantic or sexual content
Substance Use
Barely any
Social drinking
Emotional Intensity
Some
What someone could hide behind decades of vowed silence; the relationship between Gamache and Beauvoir under strain; the particular grief of devotion
What this book is about
Gamache and Beauvoir travel deep into the Quebec wilderness to a Gilbertine monastery that has been hidden from the world for centuries. One of the monks who tend a remarkable library of ancient chants has been found murdered. Everyone here has taken a vow of silence and has been cloistered for years — everyone is a suspect, and no one will speak easily. The eighth Inspector Gamache novel is one of Penny's most atmospheric — a meditation on devotion, silence, and what a person might hide when they have vowed to give everything to God. It also continues the fraying relationship between Gamache and Beauvoir that will reach its crisis in later books.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
best read as part of the Gamache series
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