After months of wanting and getting distracted by the shiny things, after three false starts, after everything, I finally listened to the loveliness that is Louise Penny's Still Life. It's the first in her Inspector Gamache series, the first time we get introduced to the comfort of Three Pines, and it's just as heart-warming as a drink and a croissant in front of a fireplace at the bistro. Well, as heart-warming as a story about murder can be. 

Armand Gamache is the head of the homicide division for Quebec's Surete, and he is a formidable force for good. Smart as a whip, experienced, respected, funny, and mindful of every detail on a case, Inspector Gamache's attention and intelligence are focused on Three Pines, which isn't even on a map, to investigate the death of retired schoolteacher Jane Neal. 

Found alone in the forest, Jane's death is originally thought to be a hunting accident, but as the facts start to build up, it's revealed that she may have been murdered. But who would do that? Everyone loved Jane. But still the questions come. Who stood to gain by her death? Who had the ability to kill her? Who could possibly do such a thing?

As Inspector Gamache and his team look for clues about the death, we get the chance to meet the characters that fill the pages of Louise Penny's novels--Gamache's second, Jean-Guy Beauvoir; Three Pines artists Clara and Peter Morrow; Inspector Yvette Nichol; psychologist-turned-bookseller Myrna; bistro and B&B owners Olivier and Gabri; and poet and town mascot Ruth Zardo. Each character is complexly and beautifully drawn, and I am so excited that there are so many more books in this series to get to know them all better. 

This first novel in the series is narrated by the brilliant Ralph Cosham, whose reading transports you to a small Canadian town where mysterious and mundane things happen. His voice will forever be the voice of Inspector Gamache in my head. He embodies these characters, and wraps listeners in coziness and comfort, despite the danger that appears in even the seemingly warmest of hearts.