Madeleine lived with her closest friend, Hazel, since reconnecting after her cancer diagnosis. When Gamache begins to investigate, he discovers that although everyone seems to have loved Madeleine, there are several suspects in her death. Additionally, she must have been murdered by someone close enough to know she had a heart condition, the result of her previous breast-cancer treatment.

Madeleine’s autopsy reveals ephedra, a banned substance, and Gamache realizes its presence in her system means that Madeleine was murdered. At the height of the ritual, Madeleine had a heart attack and died. While the first séance seemed like a bit of fun, the second, at the Hadley house, was frightening. Jeanne Chauvet, a Wiccan and psychic, came to Three Pines for a holiday, but Gabri arranged for her to entertain the villagers. The séance was the second one, held on Easter Sunday the first, two days earlier, happened at Gabri and Olivier’s bed-and-breakfast. Gamache and Beauvoir, his second in command, have been in the Hadley house before, and even Beauvoir, a self-proclaimed skeptic, believes the house is evil and should be destroyed. She died suddenly at a séance the villagers held at the Hadley house, an infamous local landmark that was the site of a prior murder.

This study guide uses the eBook edition published in 2008 by Minotaur Books.įollowing the adventures of Inspector Gamache and his team in Still Life and A Fatal Grace, The Cruelest Month sees them all return to Three Pines, a small village in Quebec, to solve the murder of Madeleine Favreau.

Louise penny book the cruelest month