Bury Your Dead

Finished November 11
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny, read by Ralph Cosham
I think this is the best Louise Penny mystery yet. There was the usually wonderful mystery, but so much more here. We had history, issues, personal growth, that really made the book that extra bit special.
There has been a past horrible event in policing for Gamache. It has to do with a kidnapping of one of his agents, and we only gradually discover as the book progresses exactly what happened. Gamache and Beauvoir are both on leaving recovering from physical and mental wounds from this situation. Gamache is visited his mentor in Quebec City and taking rest, which includes doing some research into a personal interest of his. His research takes him to the Literary and Historical Society where he uses their library to research his interest in the battle of the Plains of Abraham.
When a body is discovered in the basement of this bastion of the English in the French Canadian city, Gamache gets drawn in by both the local police and the Society's board. He agrees only because the murder victim is a strong Quebec voice in the search to find the body of Samuel de Champlain. There are many questions: what was he doing at the society? what led him there? who killed him?
Gamache is also questioning the outcome of a recent case in Three Pines and sends Beauvoir there on an unofficial basis to look into the case again.
This story allows us to see both Gamache and Beauvoir in new lights, and see them both grow in their understanding of themselves and others. An absolutely wonderful read.