First things first; I finished Louise Penny's The Nature of the Beast early yesterday. I liked it much better than than her previous entry in the series, although my earlier criticism of the series as a whole still stands. As does my specific criticism of the absurdity of the central premise of this particular book - although the author's afterword presents something of an excuse for it.
Oh well. I guess I'll probably read the next one in the series ( assuming there will be one) - there's some promise hinted that Gamache may move on into a new career. So, I'll have to find out if this indeed happens...
As for Tibet - Mandarin Gate was a great mystery novel, and somehow just whizzed along with much more alacrity than the others have done. Or maybe it's just that for the first time in months, I had a free day to just kick back and do nothing but read at my leisure. In any case, I loved it as I have loved all the books in this series that have gone before, and I'm already saddened by the prospect that there is only one more to go.
Since I didn't expect to finish this one so quickly I haven't even requested the next and final book in the series from my library yet. Thankfully, I have Peter May's Entry Island to get me through the next few days. I'm looking forward to it.
Once I finish the 8th and final book of the Inspector Shan series, my intention is to write a comprehensive overview of the entire series. As I've mentioned before, these books have affected me deeply. I'd like to do them justice.
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