BOOKIN' BINGO'S REVIEW, SPEEDY GIVEAWAY of THE BRUTAL TELLING, AND THE WINNER!!

IT'S MIDNIGHT!

TIMES UP!

TIME TO CHOOSE THE WINNER!

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU
WHO ARE REALLY SPEEDY!

THE WINNER HAS BEEN SENT
AN EMAIL AND HAS UNTIL
NOON, TOMORROW, AUGUST 27TH
TO SEND IN THEIR NAME AND ADDRESS!
THE WINNER IS...

#15 wheresmyrain

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
AND THANKS TO ALL WHO FOLLOW
AND GOT IN ON THIS ONE QUICKLY!
I HAD FUN AND HOPE YOU DID AS WELL
AS THIS JUST MAY BECOME A REGULAR
ON BOOKIN' WITH BINGO!

PS...I FORGOT TO PUT EST ON MY
DEADLINE (I CAN'T STAY UP ALL
NIGHT) SO I DID ALLOW ANYONE
WHO HAD COMMENTED TO BE IN THE
GIVEAWAY UP UNTIL I WENT TO
RANDOM.org TO FIND THE WINNER
...THANKS!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
THE BRUTAL TELLING
BY LOUISE PENNY

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Chaos is coming, old son. With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness. No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him?

As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures— from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word “WOE” woven in it—lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: (Courtesy of LOUISEPENNY.com)

I was born in Toronto in 1958 and became a journalist and radio host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, specializing in hard news and current affairs. My first job was in Toronto and then moved to Thunder Bay at the far tip of Lake Superior, in Ontario. It was a great place to learn the art and craft of radio and interviewing, and listening. That was the key. A good interviewer rarely speaks, she listens. Closely and carefully. I think the same is true of writers.

From Thunder Bay I moved to Winnipeg to produce documentaries and host the CBC afternoon show. It was a hugely creative time with amazingly creative people. But I decided I needed to host a morning show, and so accepted a job in Quebec City. The advantage of a morning show is that it has the largest audience, the disadvantage is having to rise at 4am.

But Quebec City offered other advantages that far outweighed the ungodly hour. It's staggeringly beautiful and almost totally French and I wanted to learn. Within weeks I'd called Quebecers 'good pumpkins', ordered flaming mice in a restaurant, for dessert naturally, and asked a taxi driver to 'take me to the war, please.' He turned around and asked 'Which war exactly, Madame?' Fortunately elegant and venerable Quebec City has a very tolerant and gentle nature and simply smiled at me.

From there the job took me to Montreal, where I ended my career on CBC Radio's noon programme.

In my mid-thirties the most remarkable thing happened. I fell in love with Michael, the head of hematology at the Montreal Children's Hospital. He'd go on to hold the first named chair in pediatric hematology in Canada, something I take full credit for, out of his hearing.

It's an amazing and blessed thing to find love later in life. It was my first marriage and his second. He'd lost his first wife to cancer a few years earlier and that had just about killed him. Sad and grieving we met and began a gentle and tentative courtship, both of us slightly fearful, but overcome with the rightness of it. And overcome with gratitude that this should happen to us and deeply grateful to the family and friends who supported us.

Eleven years later we live in an old United Empire Loyalist brick home in the country, surrounded by maple woods and mountains and smelly dogs.

There are times when I'm in tears writing. Not because I'm so moved by my own writing, but out of gratitude that I get to do this. In my life as a journalist I covered deaths and accidents and horrible events, as well as the quieter disasters of despair and poverty. Now, every morning I go to my office, put the coffee on, fire up the computer and visit my imaginary friends, Gamache and Beauvoir and Clara and Peter. What a privilege it is to write. I hope you enjoy reading the books as much as I enjoy writing them.

MY REVIEW OF THE BRUTAL TELLING:

Meet as charming and clever a cast of characters as a reader would ever want to know. Add to that a setting that is as important as any character as it sets the stage so well for this mystery that Louise Penny you can tell pours her heart and soul into. This is my first Chief Inspector Gamache novel, but it won't be my last. Gamache is from Surete du Quebec and he and his men handle some of the worst crimes there are.

This story takes place in the small village of Three Pines, where the people are warm, loyal, and all seem to know each other. The description of Three Pines and the surrounding area is a lovely countryside setting that leaves you wishing you could visit, at least at first. The bistro where the action in the story is centered comes alive with the people, and the food. You can almost taste the roasts, cheeses, and hot, buttery bread. The bistro owner, Olivier, is every one's favorite until he becomes the prime suspect in the crime that rocks this village and the people who love spending time in it.

So what happens to all this warmth and charm that brings it to a screeching halt? A dead body! It is found and the police must solve the crime. This is a who-done-it with all the good parts that leave you questioning what will happen next, and what does each clue mean, until you realize you already know, except---you really don't. Just when you think you are having that ah-ha moment, things go off in another direction. The villagers you loved and "knew" in the beginning begin to make you doubt them as everyone seems to be a suspect with the bistro's owner seeming to be at the top of the list. Inspector Gamache is clever and follows every lead, even when it takes him to other parts of the country.

The people in Three Pines start to look at each other and suddenly, everyone could be guilty and nobody trusts anyone any more. The more we find out about the characters who live here, the more secrets are revealed. Gamache knows they are hiding something but it is a while before he figures out who is hiding what and who isn't hiding anything at all. We discover the body wasn't killed in the bistro as is first thought but rather was moved. Nobody even knows who the dead man is...or do they? This is just plain fun if you are a mystery lover. No tricks or techno unrealistic garbage...just pure mystery a la "the butler, in the pantry, with the candlestick" (Fans of the game CLUE will understand). This is a trail that you will follow to the end with great anticipation and if like me, certainly you know who did what, only to find you were wrong!

Inspector Gamache is a smart and savvy character as he calls in witnesses and experts to analyze the crime. It isn't long before all the villagers who were so trusting realize that the murderer must be one of their own! So many COULD have done it and had cause but their motives are all different. The puzzle gets more tangled and although the clues are there to be seen, there just isn't a way to put it all together...at least it wasn't for me. However, I didn't care as all the characters, the setting, and actions/reactions, come together to give us one fine and fun mystery to read. I will certainly be looking for more about the inspector and also from author Louise Penny.

READY FOR THE "SPEEDY GIVEAWAY"?
A WHAT? YOU SAY!
THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID SPEEDY!

THIS MEANS THAT I HAVE ONE WONDERFUL
BRAND NEW ARC OF THE BRUTAL TELLING
TO GIVE AWAY AND IT IS GOING TO BE A
FUN AND FAST, A LITTLE LIKE THE BOOK!


RULES ARE AS ALWAYS....

U.S. ONLY AS I'M MAILING
NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
NO EMAIL ADDRESS IN COMMENT=NO ENTRY

HOW TO ENTER A
"SPEEDY GIVEAWAY"?...

JUST LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL
ADDRESS! THEN...WATCH FOR THE CLOCK TO
STRIKE MIDNIGHT,TONIGHT, AUGUST 25TH,
AND THE SPEEDY GIVEAWAY WILL BE OVER!

SOMETIME TOMORROW, I WILL ANNOUNCE
THE WINNER'S NAME AND THEY WILL HAVE
ONLY UNTIL NOON OF THE NEXT DAY,
AUGUST 27TH, TO REPLY!

YOU SEE HOW SPEEDY WE ALL HAVE TO BE?

SO ENTER NOW, OR NOT, BUT YOU ONLY
HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!!!!

AND IF ALL GOES AS PLANNED, THE WINNER'S
BOOK WILL BE IN THE MAIL BY CLOSE OF
THE POST OFFICE ON AUGUST 27TH!

PHEW! SPEEDY OR WHAT?