RaveCriminal ElementThe Beautiful Mystery is tense in ways that Penny’s other novels are not. It’s a tightly woven web, and the story movement is subtle. Dialogue is critical. The reader gets the sense that he or she has all the same information that Gamache and Beauvoir have, that they are unravelling the mystery together. Because the setting is almost claustrophobic, there’s little room for dramatic physical action. Penny’s skills as a student of plot as well as psychology are beautifully on display … There are so many mysteries, so many secrets revealed in The Beautiful Mystery—all stunning and heartbreaking.
