BOOK: Fear the Worst and The Murder Stone

Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay, 399 pages

RIP V; 4th Canadian Book Challenge

Barclay delivers with another great thriller.(See previous books read: No Time for Goodbye and Too Close to Home) In this one, a father worries when his seventeen year old daughter goes missing. As he begins to look for her, the 'job' she travelled to everyday has never heard of her. Dun, dun Dun! 

Solid, realistic, with characters who feel believable, if a little impulsive and not willing to explain  what they are doing, Barclay is a reliable RIP novelist.

also reviewed: kerrie at mysteries in paradise;  joy at thoughts of joy;

The Murder Stone by Louise Penny, 414 pages; 4th of 6 in the series
*published as A Rule Against Murder in US

RIP V; 4th Canadian Book Challenge

Series books are tough to review, since you can't tell too much, and so much of a good series is the development of the main characters.

What I like about the series? Inspector Gamache is a wonderful detective and person, almost a little too perfect, but I'd want him on my case. The setting of Quebec, the recurring characters, Gamache's investigative team all combine with Penny's prose to provide an enjoyable read.

This book? I actually like this one a little bit better, although it wasn't set in Three Pines, so few of the recurring characters were around, although there is a connection to Three Pines. There was also little of the arching story line involving Gamache and his boss. Gamache is on vacation with his wife at an exclusive type lodge in the forests of Quebec. A large family arrives for its annual reunion, but they aren't very nice people, even to each other. Lots of motive for when one of them is killed in a closed door mystery - somebody at the lodge has to be the killer.