Louise Penny

The Nature of the Beast is a New York Times bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache novel from Louise Penny.

Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in

Instant New York Times bestseller:

#1 in Hardcover Fiction
#1 in E-book Fiction
#1 in Combined Print and E-book Fiction

"Deep and grand and altogether extraordinary....Miraculous."
—The Washington Post

"Artful...Powerful...Magical."
- The New York Times Book Review

"Superb"
- People

"A

Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel!Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment

On a cold November morning, a jogger runs through the woods in the peaceful Quebec village of Three Pines. On his run, he finds a dead man hanging from a tree. The dead man was a guest at the local Inn and Spa. He might have been looking for peace and quiet, but something else found him. Something horrible. Did the man take his own life? Or was he murdered? Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is called to the crime scene. As Gamache follows the trail

The ninth book in Louise Penny's New York Times bestselling, critically acclaimed series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.

"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." —Leonard Cohen

Christmas is approaching, and in Québec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for

#1 New York Times best-selling author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels, Louise Penny brings her "nerve and skill—as well as heart" (Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post) to selecting the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year.