My Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Since I am loving the Chief Inspector Gamache series from Louise Penny, as soon as I finished #6 in the series (Bury Your Dead), I went looking for the next. I expected this to be #7, but found a #6.5 listed on Goodreads, which was The Hangman.
Back in Three Pines, a jogger finds a man hanging from a tree in the woods. Was this a suicide or a murder? This is where Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Beauvoir come in to investigate.
When I read the initial description, I knew this was a novella, so was expecting a short read. That was definitely delivered. It was a very short read, with a very small sampling of the Three Pines 'regulars' being involved. The mystery was quite simply presented and resolved, which contributed to my initial 3 star rating...an interesting plot enough, but definitely not to the level I expect from Louise Penny.
After a little more research I discovered this was a novella written for the GoodReads Canada program (very different than the Goodreads social site). It is a literacy program aimed at engaging adult readers who may be at a lower level of reading. The expectation is that these books are written at a grade 3 level, to be straight forward, and not too complex. Taking this into consideration, I think Louise Penny completely delivered, so I upped my rating to 4.
This is my sixth book read for the 10th Annual Canadian Book Challenge.
How cool that Louise Penny is writing for a literacy project. I knew I liked her!
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