A quiet, slow mystery novel set in a quaint Quebecois town littered with artists. There's an extensive cast of locals to keep track of, as well as a handful of police personnel. On the plus side, setting is lovely and inviting. The prose itself was charming. 

On the downsides, there are many characters that I would like to kick: Nichol for her patent lack of self-reflection; Gamache for being so lax about suspects being around evidence; teenage boys for being... well, teenage menaces; that niece for being mean to Clara (hopefully the niece is murdered in a future installment). Oh, and I was enraged that they didn't prove that they were trying to solve a murder until nearly 70% of the way through. 

Yet I still cheered for Gamache and his team to solve the mystery. And when it came, the solution had a few satisfyingly un-heroic twists. That's probably a controversial opinion. But I enjoyed that Penny undermined the stereotypes of mystery endings. 

As comfy as a murder mystery can be. Mystery was my favorite genre growing up (thanks, Encyclopedia Brown!) and the pacing, foreshadowing, and revelations of a good mystery are so comfortable to sink into - and Penny does it really well! I'm very glad there are many more books to look forward to in this series. I loved the cast of characters and am excited to meet more of them and get to know them better along the way. Even though many more murders apparently happen in this small town! (Also I had my eye on the murderer in the first few chapters so I feel very vindicated.)