Still Life

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of death and antigay bias.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How does Penny’s decision to set the murder in the seemingly idyllic village of Three Pines during Thanksgiving weekend affect your reading of the story? Have you read other mysteries that employ this “paradise corrupted” setup—for example, works in Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple series, such as A Murder Is Announced?

2. The novel opens with Jane Neal’s decision to share her art publicly for the first time, followed shortly by her death. What emotional impact did this sequence of events have on you as a reader? What expectations did it create, and did the novel deliver on them?

3. How effective did you find Gamache’s gentle but firm investigative style? Did his approach make you question traditional depictions of detectives as hard-boiled or eccentric? If you have not already done so, would you consider other works featuring Gamache, such as A Fatal Grace?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Throughout the novel, characters struggle with

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