Louise Penny paints in the background to STILL LIFE…
When I did something wrong as a child, my mother would send me outside to play, as punishment. She knew all I really wanted to do was lie on my bed and read. Safe and sovereign. At first it was Charlotte’s Web, but before long I’d raided the stacks of murder mysteries around the house: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Michael Innes.
Later, as an adult, when the world did something wrong, I’d retreat to my bedroom and crawl back into those well-loved and well-read cosies. Where murders and crumpets co-habit. Where people ‘toddle’ and eyes ‘twinkle’. It was a kindly world.
STILL LIFE (February 06) was born from a desire to create a modern cosy-crime novel, a marriage of the world that exists now and that idyllic village where people discuss murder over a nice café au lait and croissant at Olivier’s Bistro.
Chief Inspector Gamache, of the Sûreté du Quebec, needed to be someone I’d invite into my home; the residents of Three Pines needed to be people I’d choose as friends. STILL LIFE is about fear and emotions, buried and rancid. But more than anything else, STILL LIFE is about goodness.
When I did something wrong as a child, my mother would send me outside to play, as punishment. She knew all I really wanted to do was lie on my bed and read. Safe and sovereign. At first it was Charlotte’s Web, but before long I’d raided the stacks of murder mysteries around the house: Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Michael Innes. 