De vez en cuando tengo que empezar series de policiacas nuevas porque las de toda la vida, por mucho que las estire, se terminan inevitablemente. Este es un primer intento con el inspector Gamache. Lo conocí en el Ojo de Polisemo, una de sus traductoras al castellano, Patricia Antón, dio una charla y me despertó la curiosidad. No obstante, he optado por leer a Penny en francés por dos razones: porque los autores canadienses anglófonos prefiero leerlos en francés, me parece que están culturalmente más cerca del original, y porque en España es un puto desorden: no han sacado todos los libros (por ejemplo el 2, el 3 y el 4 no están traducidos) y no siempre se pueden encontrar en ebook, así que he optado por la edición de Actes Sud, fácil de encontrar y de adquirir, en versión electrónica y, lo que es más importante, tienen la serie completa. Esta traducción es de Michel Saint-Germain.
No está mal. Me parece un poco simple a veces y no sé si aguantaré toda la serie, pero los personajes son de esos con los que te puedes encariñar (o puedes odiar), así que de momento me conformo, aunque las tramas sean bastante primitivas. Ya veremos si mejora. De todas formas, se lee del tirón y los ambientes están muy bien descritos. Me ha desconcertado un poco que la autora sea tan amiga de Hillary Clinton y se preste a escribir cosas con ella. No me parece buena señal.

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/08/2023115-still-life-louise-penny.html ( )

Yes, this is book is terrible, but is that any reason to give it fewer than three stars? Not in this case, since it never promises to be anything other than terrible. A woman is cosily murdered (even the murder wound is neat) in a cosy town and the cosy Inspector Gamache investigates which of the cosy cast of characters committed the (fairly) foul deed. The prose is occasionally awkward, but mostly fine; the characters are ridiculous, but then they're supposed to be; the plot moves along almost quick enough to distract from the large holes, but not quite.

Cosy crime is not a genre I read often, but if I were to read it again, I'd probably choose the next book in this series, as this is just as serviceable as genre fiction should be. ( )

Absolutely loved it! ( )

I don’t know why I put Louise Penny’s books off for so long, but I did. Fortunately, I have a friend who likes her writing and she started me off with the first book (there are 18!) in the Armand Gamache series. I don’t know if I would have been disciplined enough to start with book #1 if she had not lent it to me.

Still Life introduces Gamache, his associates, and the small town of Three Pines. Gamache, from the Surete du Quebec is called to Three Pines when a body of a beloved resident is found dead in the woods. Could her painting, recently accepted for a local exhibition, be a clue?

Usually I devour a book; this one I limited to only a certain number of pages a day so I could savor it. It is well written, with strong characters who are interesting and unique. Yes, it is a bit of a slow burn, but that gives the reader time to become well acquainted with the local residents as well as the police inspectors. Gamache is someone I’m glad I met and cannot wait to read more of this series. ( )