Brome Lake Books is so pleased to be hosting the launch of Louise Penny’s eighth book The Beautiful Mystery.  We are holding the event on Saturday August 25th at 2:00 pm.  After the record numbers that turned out for last years event we decided to move to the larger venue of Centre Lac Brome, 270 Victoria Street in Knowlton.  We have received a special dispensation from the publishers Minotaur Books/Raincoast Books in order to celebrate with Louise three days before the official release date on August 28th and before she takes off on her North American book tour.  Louise will be speaking, reading from The Beautiful Mystery and signing.  Because Louise Penny has been so inspired by this area will also be featuring local film producer/director Louise Abbott. Louise Abbott will be on site showing her films on the peoples and history of beautiful province of Quebec.  This is a free event but we are taking reservations at Brome Lake Books.  We will have special entertainment and refreshments will be served.
 
Louise Penny, author of the New York Times bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache Novels, worked as an award-winning journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation before leaving to write crime fiction.  Her first Mystery STILL LIFE, was the winner of the New Blood Dagger and the Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys Awards: and was named one of the five Mystery/Crime Novels of the Decade by Deadly Pleasures magazine.  Louise went on to become the first writer ever to win the Agatha Award for Best Novel four times. She has been on the bestsellers lists for the New York Times, The Globe and Mail and People Magazine has given her Four Stars.
 
THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY is set in a remote monastery in Quebec. The monks have chosen a life of splendid isolation, of quietude. To contemplate nature and God. To commune with the Divine, without distractions. They've taken a vow of silence, and their days are filled with near complete peace and quiet, with the exception of the services that highlight their monastic day. The Divine Office. The simple services are sung in chants so old they predate written music. Plain chant. Gregorian chant. Singing the word of God in the voice of God. Their chanting is so mesmerizing, so glorious that the little recording they made to raise money has become a sensation.

But while the monks might choose not to speak, there are other ways to communicate. And lately a battle, fought in near silence, has shattered their community. And led to murder. When Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvoir, of the Sûreté du Québec, arrive they enter a cloistered and secretive community. Shut off from the outside world. They meet men trained to conceal how they feel and what they think.

THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY is about the plain chant at the heart of their monastic life and the power of that music to inspire and corrupt. But Chief Inspector Gamache soon discovers something else, hiding in the silence. Tyranny.

Gamache and Beauvoir are faced with an unsettling question. Was the monk murdered by the tyrant, or because he was the tyrant?

In the great silence of the monastery, Gamache and Beauvoir come face to face with their own truths, and their own tyrants. While so many are kneeling down, Gamache must discover if he has the courage to stand up. To speak up.

‘From the Publisher’

Louise Abbott is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker in the Eastern Townships.   She has concentrated on documenting the history and contemporary life of rural and indigenous communities in Eastern Canada, and investigating environmental issues that affect these communities.  Her films include The Pinnacle and the Poet,  Giving Shelter, Crisscrossing Space and Time, and A Journey to Remember. 

**************************************

Louise Penny book launch of The Beautiful Mystery on Saturday August 25th, 2:00 pm, Centre Lac Brome, 270 Victoria St. in Knowlton.  A free event open to everyone.  For reservations or information call Brome Lake Books 450-242-2242