The Brutal Telling
- Published
- 22 September 2009
- Pages
- 400
- ISBN-13
- 9782890776708
- Type
- novel
About this book
The Brutal Telling (2009) is the book where, by reader consensus, the Gamache series shifts into another gear -- the fifth of twenty entries, and the start of a run through How the Light Gets In considered one of the great sustained sequences in modern mystery fiction. It runs 400 pages.
Key facts about The Brutal Telling
The Brutal Telling is a novel by Louise Penny. Readers have had it since 22 September 2009. It runs to 400 pages.
Our list holds 3 editions of The Brutal Telling. Since each edition has its own ISBN, search for 9782890776708 to find the main one.
The Brutal Telling is book 5 of 20 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. The series has 20 published books. However, the series starts with Still Life (2005). The Black Wolf is the latest book in the series with a full release date, out on 28 October 2025.
That series sits on our mystery shelf. Meanwhile, The Last Mandarin is the latest published Louise Penny book on file, from 12 May 2026.
About Louise Penny
Louise Penny is a Canadian author best known for the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, a long-running literary mystery series set largely in the fictional Quebec village of Three Pines, where a tight-knit cast of eccentric locals recurs across cases investigated by the thoughtful, morally grounded Sûreté du Québec inspector Gamache. See every Louise Penny book in order.
Its place in Chief Inspector Armand Gamache
The Brutal Telling is book 5 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. It follows A Rule Against Murder. It is followed by Bury Your Dead. See the full Chief Inspector Armand Gamache reading order.
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec is the rarest thing in crime fiction: a genuinely good man. Courtly, patient, fluent in poetry and human weakness, he teaches his agents four sentences that lead to wisdom — I was wrong. I'm sorry. I don't know. I need help. — and solves murders not by trickery but by listening until people reveal themselves. His cases keep returning him to Three Pines, a village south of Montreal that appears on no map, where croissants and cafe au lait at Olivier's bistro…
Editions
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9782890776708
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9781410423047
- edition · unknown publisher · — · ISBN 9781250109118