by Louise Penny

“But odd as his family might be, they were nothing compared to this. In fact, that was one of the great comforts of his job. At least his family compared well to people who actually killed each other, rather than just thought about it.”

**Major Spoilers**

Long before I started reading Louise Penny, but read about her and was interested, I read a book review which expressed dismay that the murder was a beloved member of the community. From the first book I read in the series, I had assumed that the murderer was going to be Peter, and this book the reviewer was talking about was going to be a good bit down the road. So my reading has been colored by this assumption. I’m glad that is behind me now.
I was relieved that this is kind of a part one of a two part duo, because I was vaguely dissatisfied that Olivier still maintained his innocence at the end. There were also some things left hanging and some unanswered questions. On finishing this entry in the series, I really despise Olivier for his lies and greed and stupidity. I don’t care whether he is a murderer or not. If he proves not to be, I hope he isn’t accepted back as a beloved friend to all. In a way, this 5 star rating is contingent on how things play out in Bury Your Dead.

Questions and quibbles: Totally unbelievable that a prominent member of an Artistic community would feel such homophobia, let alone display it.
Why didn’t Olivier take even some of the treasures after he murdered the Hermit, or came back to find him dead? He could have found a hiding place.
Once the hermit was dead why did he still dump the body at the Hadley place? Why the hate? Why the risk? The jig was up at that point. That’s why Gabri says he didn’t do it. He couldn’t have advertised the murder if he had done it. 

July 2, 2018