DEBORAH CROMBIE: A high point in my year is the publication of a new mystery by my friend Louise Penny, and today is the day A BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY hits the shelves!
For those who might not be familiar with Louise's books, they are set in Quebec, often in the sometimes magical village of Three Pines, and feature Chief Inspector Gamache of the Surete, as well as his family, friends, and colleagues. I've loved Louise's books since the first, STILL LIFE, and they've just gotten better and better. And this one--I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek at the galley, and I can tell you it will knock your socks off. It also has a special significance for me, as you will see.
Chief Inspector Gamache and his colleague, Jean Guy Beauvoir, are called to investigate the murder of the choirmaster in an isolated abbey. There, they find not only a closed circle of suspects, but unexpected truths about themselves, and now Louise will tell us a little more about A BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY.
DEBS: I think it’s so interesting that we’ve both chosen to
write mystery novels that are centered on “the beautiful mystery” of Gregorian
chant. Mine, A FINER END, is set in Glastonbury, and the abbey where the chant
was sung has long been in ruins.
But in A BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY you’ve set your story in a modern
day monastery, hidden away from the world for centuries in a remote part of
Quebec. Is Saint-Gilbert-Entres-les-Loups based on a real monastery?
LOUISE PENNY: Thank you,
Debs! Actually, the monastery is
inspired by one not far from our home.
Michael and I have been there quite a few times and always send visitors
there. They sing the Gregorian Chants as
part of their Divine Office – and have the BEST shop, filled with produce from
monasteries around Quebec, including their own….cheeses, chocolates, pies,
jams, preserves, and CDs of chants. But
– it became clear in researching this that I couldn’t set the book in a
monastery, or even an order, that really existed, so I dug into history and
found the Gilbertines, an order that actually once existed, but went extinct.
DEBS: Can you tell us how you came to write about chant? It
is rather obscure—and absolutely fascinating.
LOUISE: I think I
sort of backed into the chant thing. I
was really interested in two other issues – the power of music and the power of
silence. I loved that contradiction that
a silent order could become world famous for their voices. So I began to think about the different ways
we communicate, if not through speech.
At the same time, I recognized the powerful effect music has on me – and
I suspect, on most people. But I can
only speak from personal experience.
When I’m planning and writing a book, I listen to a lot of music. Not when I’m actually writing, but
surrounding it I do. In fact, each book
has its own ‘sound track’. When I get
stuck, or have some time, I’ll get in the car and put on the ‘sound track’ and
empty my mind. When I’m on a flight I
plug into the iPod, and empty my mind.
And that’s when inspiration strikes.
Music seems to open a channel to come creative place I can’t normally
get to. At the same time, a piece of
music can transport us to another place and time, and not just evoke that
memory, but the emotion. It can inspire
great courage, and reduce us to tears. I
was fascinated by it – and all this led me to look into the very first western
music – plain chant. If music is a drug,
then plain chant is uncut heroin for many.
I wanted The Beautiful Mystery to look at the monks and
their devotion to God, but also their devotion to plain chant – the word of
God, sung in the voice of God. And what
some of them would do to defend it.
DEBS: As crime novelists, I think we are always intrigued by
the closed circle of suspects, and you’ve certainly given us that in A BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY. Twenty-four monks. A
locked door. So Gamache and Beauvoir know from the beginning, as do we, that the
murderer must be one of these men. It’s a wonderful opportunity to explore
character, and the idea that no matter how intimate the circumstances, one can
never completely know another person.
LOUISE: Yes,
exactly! I loved that about this
community of men – who lived so intimately, in such isolation, and yet never
spoke. But some developed loving relationships,
and some loathing. So that a bitter, but
silent, civil war was being waged, though it takes Gamache and Beauvoir a while
to realize that. I love the hermetic
environment of some crime novels, that growing sense of claustrophobia, of the
walls closing in, of intimacy and security turning into a prison. And someone they thought of as a brother,
being in fact, a stranger. Capable of
such a vile crime. How could they not
know? How is it they didn’t know?
DEBS: You’ve taken us away from Three Pines in this book. We
only see Gamache and Beauvoir, and as with the monks, the isolation serves to
reveal things about the detectives. Can you say which came first—did you choose
the setting because it would remove Gamache and Beauvoir from familiar circumstances
and colleagues, or did the exploration of their relationship arise out of the
setting?
LOUISE: Hmmm – that’s
an interesting question. I knew I’d be
setting this book in the remote monastery a number of years ago, when I first
wrote the outline. It’s the first
Gamache novel set completely away from Three Pines, and I knew it would be time
– and necessary, for the characters, and for me as a writer. But by this stage in the series there’s a
very strong character development arc, with serious issues faced by both
Gamache and Beauvoir. It seemed this
would be a perfect place to let that ferment.
Two men who have lived and worked closely, who have an intimate
relationship, and who are facing a crisis.
Like the monks. What will they
choose to do? The monastery acts as a
sort of crucible. There’s no place to
hide. And eventually, in the great
silence, everything is revealed. What
could be more terrifying that silence, when you have to come face to face with
yourself?
DEBS: In eight books, I think you’ve done a masterful job of
avoiding the pitfalls inherent in writing about a closed environment like Three
Pines. As much as we love the village
and its inhabitants, every few books you’ve taken us to other settings, so that
when we come back to Three Pines it’s like meeting an old friend. Has this been
deliberate?
LOUISE: Thank you,
Debs. You and I talk a lot about that
very danger – of falling, unwittingly – into a routine. Coming from you, whose books are always fresh
and alive, that’s a great compliment.
Yes, like you, I’m keenly aware of that danger and so every second book
is set, for the most part, away from the village of Three Pines – because I
don’t want to fall into a pattern. And,
so that, when I do go back to the village (as I am right now writing the next
book) it’s like returning home but seeing it with new eyes. I genuinely enjoy the company of the
characters – but I have no desire to be imprisoned in the village or by the
characters. It’s so important to be
unpredictable, but natural – so that what happens to the characters is natural,
though sometimes tragic. It’s critical
to me that readers know that I love the characters, but that sometimes horrible
things will happen, as it does in life. I
never want a reader to pick up a Gamache book and think, ‘Same old, same
old.’ But – I do want them to feel a
sense of belonging, of community – of being among friends. As you’ve achieved so masterfully, Debs, with
Duncan and Gemma, two people I no longer think of as ‘characters’, but as
living, breathing people. With lives
sometimes successful and happy, and sometimes devastating.
DEBS: In case readers are worried, they won’t be deprived of
the tantalizing descriptions of food that usually accompany a visit to Three Pines—the monks eat well, and the monastery’s
specialty is wild blueberries covered with dark chocolate. Any idea where we might find these?
LOUISE: As a matter of fact, that was inspired (read: lifted) from
real life….every monastery in Quebec (perhaps in the world) has a vocation and
there’s one in the Lac Saint-Jean area of Quebec that makes, among other
things, chocolate covered wild blueberries.
We used to get them when I lived in Quebec City. But they’re rare and precious. Blueberry season is very short and the monks
don’t use preservative. So you can only
find them for a couple of weeks. They
sell out very fast, so spoilage is never an issue.
Shocking, really, how little creativity actually goes into
my books. I’m just so lucky to live in
this amazing part of the world that has one foot in the present and one in the
past. Cutting edge technology is created
in Quebec (the home of Bombardier) and monks who sing plain chant and make
chocolate covered blueberries, as they have for centuries. And all I have to do is pay attention, and
pay respects.
Thank you for this, my friend. You are such an amazing talent, and so
supportive and kind. I’m a huge fan of
your work, as you know, and cherish our talks, getting to compare experiences,
that are at once different, but often very, very similar – especially the
internal struggles to create the very best books, and to make sure we never,
ever fall into a rut.
Thank you, Debs!
DEBS: You're so very welcome, Louise, and congratulations on a fabulous book! And one last thing--when I was writing A FINER END, I acquired a fragment of chant manuscript from (where else?) an antiquities dealer in Portobello Road, so I'm including a (bit blurry) photo in hopes that it will provide a little visual treat for readers of A BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY.
Louise is already on book tour, but she'll try to check in and say "hi" in the midst of her travels tomorrow.
And a last bit of Jungle Red business: If you missed taking our JUNGLE RED FAMILY FEUD survey yesterday, never fear, you have two more weeks to respond here.
