This is the latest addition to the Nameless Detective series in which the protagonist remains unnamed.  Today, when so many mysteries are striving so hard to be literary that they have the barest semblance of a plot, Pronzini gives us a good detective story filled with thoughtful interrogations, some exciting action scenes, and a detective who comes away changed by what he discovers.

Pronzini’s Nameless novels are also quite brief, perhaps also a virtue with so many bloated novels on the market, but you come away feeling that you’ve experienced a story of considerable complexity.  Give STRANGERS a try and see how it used to be done and so rarely is today.

I wondered, after Penny’s last book which completed a multi-book theme about corruption in the Quebec police department, how she would continue.  She does so very ably by having her protagonist, Chief Inspector of Homicide, Armand Gamache, retire and return to live in the remote village of Three Pines.  Three Pines has figured in other books, so this gives Penny the opportunity to further develop characters introduced in the past.

The theme of this story is artistic creativity, as Clara, a well-known painter, asks Gamache to find out why her husband Peter has not returned home at the agreed time after their year-long separation.  This leads to a journey into the the forests of Quebec and into the darkness that is often the other side of creativity.  As always, Penny is a careful observer of nature and of her characters: every word and gesture taking on great importance.  This may slow the story down at times, but it also provides the atmosphere that makes Penny one of the most literary of today’s mystery writers.  The plot does not disappoint, and the ending comes as something of a surprise.  This is a book not to be missed by fans of Penny, and those who would like to meet her for the first time.

Although this is not a story about a detective or amateur sleuth pursuing the solution to a crime, this story meets the broader criterion of a mystery in that it does center on a crime.  The story is told from the viewpoints of two children in a family dominated by a mother who is a psychotic narcissist. The mother’s ability to manipulate the family members and disguise the truth makes her a genuinely frightening character.

Even though I suspect many readers will be able to guess quite early on the solution to the crime that drives the story, the characterizations are so sharp and the writing so fluid that you will read to the end without disappointment.