The Brutal Telling By Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
I don't often read murder mysteries, as I feel I've been a little spoilt by Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. But this book, I really enjoyed. (Perhaps because, while not French, the investigator is Québécoise? At least a corollary to my favourite little, tightly-shod Belgian?)
Chief Inspector Garmache – well known investigateur extraordinaire - is called in to find a murderer in the picturesque village of Three Pines. (He's clearly been there before and I must give Kalahari a search for previous titles...)
As he and his colleagues investigate the murder of an unknown man, found in the local bistro, the plot spirals into a train of hidden treasure, shameful secrets and... missing blood.
It's great, with unusually good characterisation for a mystery. And a clothes-wearing duck. Give it a go.