the cruelest month: a chief inspector gamache novel (a chief inspector gamache mystery book 3)  <p><b> <i>the cruelest month </i>is the third book in louise penny&apos;s award winning three pines mystery series featuring the wise and beleaguered inspector armand gamache. </b><br /><br /><b>"many mystery buffs have credited louise penny with the revival of the type of traditional murder mystery made famous by agatha christie ... " -sarah weinman</b><br /><br />welcome to three pines, where the cruelest month is about to deliver on its threat.<br /><br />it&apos;s spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. but not everything is meant to return to life. . . <br /><br />when some villagers decide to celebrate easter with a séance at the old hadley house, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil---until one of their party dies of fright. was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along?<br /><br />brilliant, compassionate chief inspector armand gamache of the sûreté du québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.</p>