The I Can't Believe I Didn't Give It Five Stars post

Just last week, I was going to mention that I was worried blogger (or whatever they call themselves), would take away our so perfectly named blog for inactivity. Not wanting that to happen, I thought I'd toss in a couple old goodreads reviews now and then. The ever elusive five stars? I couldn't decide. I've never had more than 7 in one year (so far!). So, I thought I'd start with this Louise Penny, because Julianne echoed my appreciation of her as such a great author. This one, The Brutal Telling, is the first one I read, which is actually the fifth in the series.

Reviewed Oct. 2009. Three Pines, a small village near Quebec, seems to be your basic rustic, perfect, getaway place. However, when bistro owners Olivier and Gabriel discover a dead body inside their dining area, that peacefulness is shattered. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate the murder. I would call this a sort of procedural cozy, as Gamache’s team can be high tech when they need to be, but Gamache certainly believes in following the clues and old fashioned footwork. I didn’t realize there are other Gamache stories, and this was not his first visit to the supposedly tranquil Three Pines. The story and mystery stood alone quite well. From the townspeople’s distrust of the nearby spa opening to the gradually more terrifying area legends, I found this to be a very gripping mystery.

Gave it four stars. Hereby upped to five in my mind!

It's that time!

I stopped getting the Powell's emails for a while and had to re-subscribe. Don't want any of you to miss out on this when thinking over our faves from 2011.

http://www.powells.com/puddlys/2012/

Happy New Year!