The Cruelest Month is the third book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. The series has collected numerous awards and is highly regarded by both critics and audiences. While Gamache and his team are officers in the Sûreté du Québec, the Gamache books are not police procedurals, a subgenre of mystery that focuses on the technical aspects of murder investigation. Instead, Gamache depends on insight, observation, and intellect, and he expects the same of his team, making the series more character-driven than many other murder mysteries.

Besides unique detective Armand Gamache, Penny also creates the village of Three Pines, tucked into the rural forests of Quebec. The village “was only ever found by people lost” (2). In Three Pines, Penny creates a quirky, friendly town full of eccentric residents. Settings like Three Pines are typical of cozy mysteries, another mystery subgenre, as is a lighthearted, humorous tone.

However, this tone can be deceptive. For example, in The Cruelest Month, Ruth’s adoption of two ducklings and walks around town with them seem to be just a bit of fun to distract the reader from the mystery’s seriousness. However, when one of the ducklings dies because of Ruth’s interference, Penny uses the event to deepen her exploration of the complicated nature of love, which highlights one of her main themes,

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