Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, has retired. Scarred (both emotionally and physically) by the past, Gamache is hoping for peaceful days with his wife, Reine-Marie, in the tiny village of Three Pines.
But Clara Morrow, close friend of the Gamaches, is agonizing over her missing husband, Peter. Clara and Peter had planned to meet again after a one-year separation to see if their marriage is worth saving, but Peter failed to show at their anniversary and Clara is disturbed. Peter's art career has been waning, and ever since Clara gained national acclaim for a recent series of portraits she painted, Peter has struggled with jealousy. Clara is reluctant to disturb the Gamaches' peace, but she has to know: Did Peter simply walk away from her? All of their friends are sure that Peter would have done just about anything for fame. How far has he gone?
Louise Penny (How the Light Gets In, The Beautiful Mystery) brings her trademark poetry and scintillating, but almost painful, characterization to bear in The Long Way Home. Gamache, with his sharp mind and bruised soul, and Clara, with her artist's gifts and clumsy social skills, lead a team of their friends into the desolate Canadian wilderness to find Peter and discover the truth about the last year. Provoking meditations on the nature of art, inspiration and loss, The Long Way Home is a slow-paced paean to the power of an artist's muse and the danger of an envious spirit. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm