The Brutal Telling

Jean Guy Beauvoir is Inspector Gamache’s second-in-command. He is brash and aggressive whereas Gamache is eloquent and patient—but overall, the men share a close relationship. Jean Guy is a skilled homicide detective whose tough exterior hides his capacity for sensitivity and sympathy.

Isabelle Lacoste is a homicide detective on Inspector Gamache’s team. She investigates the marginalized narratives that help bring pieces of evidence together. She is also instrumental in training the newest member of the homicide team, Paul Morin. Isabelle treats Paul with respect while maintaining her wariness of his inexperience.

Paul Morin is the newest detective on Inspector Gamache’s team. He bravely asks if he can help, which earns Gamache’s respect and a place on his team. Paul is young and inexperienced, but learns quickly from Isabelle and Jean Guy. Gamache sees potential in Paul, and this novel is his introduction to the Inspector Gamache series.

Olivier Brulé is a prominent member of the Three Pines community. He owns and runs a popular bistro and his partner, Gabri, runs their bed-and-breakfast. Olivier once owned an antiques store and is an expert in buying and selling antique furniture and art. Before moving to Three Pines, he was a businessman for a corporate bank. He is well regarded in the village for his generosity, but his reputation is questioned when his involvement with the murdered Hermit—Jakob—becomes public knowledge. At first, Olivier only comes clean about knowing Jakob and moving his body into Marc Gilbert’s house to ruin Marc’s reputation. However, it is revealed that Olivier befriended Jakob, and in return was paid in artifacts. Olivier’s fundamental flaw is his greed. He knew Jakob’s collection must have been stolen but never reported him to law enforcement. Instead, he profited from Jakob’s fear, preying on his paranoia by fabricating a story about someone stealing from the mythological Mountain King. Though Olivier insists he did not kill Jakob, he is arrested and tried for murder. He repeatedly lied, is in possession of (and hides) the murder weapon, and previously stole money from his former company, though he claims he invested the money to make more money for the company.

Gabri Dubeau is Olivier’s partner. He runs their bed-and-breakfast not for profit but for the joy of providing a service, making him well regarded in Three Pines. When Olivier’s secrets surface, Gabri stands by him. He reaches out to the Gilbert family, rivals to his and Olivier’s businesses, which speaks to his compassion and desire for peace in Three Pines.

Marc Gilbert is a new arrival in Three Pines. He and his wife, Dominique, buy the old Hadley house on a hill that overlooks Three Pines. They renovate the house, with Marc’s mother Carole’s help, into a luxury spa. Many residents, such as Olivier, worry that this new business will put their own businesses in danger. They resent the Gilberts as outsiders who want to change the dynamics of the village. However, Marc and Dominique genuinely want the same thing as the villagers—to start a new, quiet life. Marc’s world is turned upside down when he finds a dead body in his house. Desperate not to attract the attention of the police and ruin his up-and-coming business, he moves the body into rival Olivier’s bistro. Marc is a prime suspect for murder, but ultimately, there is no evidence that he knew who Jakob was. His life is again upended when his father, Vincent, whom he long thought dead, appears. Marc and Vincent have a difficult time becoming close because Marc resents his father for leaving and going along with Carole’s lie that he died. In the end, he offers his father the cabin in the woods.

Vincent Gilbert is Marc’s father, a famous doctor and author. He discovered how to identify Down syndrome in utero, but left his medical career to pursue spirituality in India. He wanted to cut off all ties with society, including his wife and son. After years in India, Vincent learned that his true purpose is to help people. He wrote a famous book about his experiences titled Being, which frames him as saintly. Despite neglecting his family, he now wants to reconnect with them. Vincent tries to ingratiate himself with Marc, standing up for him when villagers accuse him and criticize his outsider status. When Vincent arrived, Inspector Gamache saw him as a potential murder suspect due to his timing.

Clara Morrow is an artist who lives with her artist husband Peter in Three Pines. She is humble, kind, and loving. She also has great ambitions for her art. After decades of honing her craft and watching her husband succeed in his artwork, Clara finally gets her own chance at fame. However, she is perturbed when the man who might make her famous, Denis Fortin, makes bigoted comments about Gabri Dubeau. She agonizes over whether or not she should confront Fortin, but can’t ignore her conscience. Clara’s art showing is canceled by Fortin when she confronts him, but this decision makes her a foil to Olivier Brulé, who does wrongs to enrich and protect himself. In the end, Clara is rewarded for this sacrifice when Thérèse Brunel meets her, admires her artwork, and sets up a meeting with a more prominent art gallerist than Fortin. Clara’s arc shows that doing the right thing can be risky but is ultimately rewarding.

Thérèse Brunel is an art expert who works with the Sûreté for major art crimes. Inspector Gamache employs her help when he discovers the antiques in Jakob’s cabin. Thérèse helps identify items in the cabin, as well as investigate the mysterious wood carvings. Her connections help her uncover the other carvings, the ones Olivier sold to private collectors. She is also the one who connects the word “woo” and artist Emily Carr, which in turn leads Gamache to the Queen Charlotte Islands and closer to the truth of Jakob.

Jakob, also known as the Hermit, is the murder victim of the novel. For much of the novel, his identity is a mystery because of his isolation and collection of artifacts. Though Inspector Gamache can’t prove anything about Jakob’s past, through ingenuity and Olivier’s testimony, he is able to piece together a narrative. Jakob likely left Czechoslovakia during a time of political upheaval, bringing artifacts entrusted to him by other Czech people hoping to leave the country. He was supposed to keep the artifacts safe in Canada, so their owners could retrieve them and start a new life. Instead, he moved to the Queen Charlotte Islands, where he learned to whittle and build log cabins. Jakob wanted isolation because he had no intention of returning the artifacts, but when the Haida people protested against loggers, he fled and found the forest around Three Pines—where he built a log cabin away from society. He spent decades isolated in his cabin, with Olivier as his only point of contact. Over the years, he grew paranoid, which Olivier used to his advantage. Jakob was eventually bludgeoned to death with a menorah, his body disposed of in Marc Gilbert’s house then moved to Olivier’s bistro.