In What Order Do The Louise Penny Three Pines Books Take Place
As a new fan of Chief Inspector Gamache novels, I’m feeling a bit lost on the best reading order to follow the character arcs and cozy mystery series properly. Hoping for a list to avoid spoilers.
2026-07-31 12:25:52
112
Follow8
Share
AdrianInk
Chapter Finder
Cashier
ABO Personality Quiz
Take a quick quiz to find out whether you‘re Alpha, Beta, or Omega.
Scent
Personality
Ideal Love Pattern
Secret Desire
Your Dark Side
Start Test
4 Answers
RenTaylor
Bookworm
Sales
Does anyone else use a series tracker app? I use 'Goodreads' to log them, and having them all on my 'read' shelf in the correct order is weirdly satisfying. It's a visual record of the journey. If you're the type to forget what you've read, a tracker is super helpful for a long series like this.
2026-08-02 18:42:14
6
AbbyRyan
Expert
Librarian
I have a friend who argues that 'A Rule Against Murder' (book 4) is a bit of a standalone since it's set at a secluded manor, not in Three Pines. But even that one has crucial development for Gamache's personal history and his relationship with Reine-Marie. Skipping it means missing key insights into his character. There are no true standalones here.
2026-08-03 09:51:30
3
KateDavis
Story Interpreter
Cashier
I tried to get my book club to read one, and they picked 'Kingdom of the Blind' because it was the newest at the time. They were so lost! They didn't understand the significance of the characters in the house, or Gamache's suspension, or his relationship with his son. They thought it was just an okay mystery. I was heartbroken because they missed the entire point. It's a character-driven series above all else.
2026-08-04 22:36:39
7
AnnaFord
Contributor
Lawyer
My two cents: ignore any 'rankings' or 'best of' lists that tell you to skip the early ones. The so-called 'weaker' early books establish the normal that later books so devastatingly disrupt. The comfort of the bistro, the predictability of the villagers' quirks—that's the baseline. When darkness invades that space later, it's so much more effective because you knew what was being violated.
2026-08-05 10:31:52
1
View All Answers
Scan code to download App
Related Books
I’ll Be Home for Christmas: A Thorntons Christmas Novella
IRIS MORLAND
0
3.5K
"Fall in love with THE THORNTONS, a family filled with sexy alpha males, passionate women, and lots of heart, all set in a delightful small town in the Pacific Northwest.
It’s Christmas time, and the entire Thornton clan is spending the holidays in a cabin deep in the Washington woods.
What could go wrong with twelve adults, four kids, and a dog all staying together in one big cabin?
Only the most chaotic—and memorable—Christmas ever!
Expect kisses under the mistletoe, lots of (spiked) eggnog, and even a surprise wedding as the Thornton clan celebrates the most romantic holiday of all.
Author’s Note: I’ll Be Home for Christmas is set six months after the last book, Till There Was You, ends. It’s recommended that you read the other books first, as this book is an epilogue to the entire series. Merry Christmas and happy reading!
**
This book is a part of the LOVE EVERLASTING series, which is one large series following multiple families and friends. Each book can be read as a standalone (unless otherwise noted), or they can be read in order of publication as one long series. Each book is interconnected, with many of the same characters showing up in multiple books.
LOVE EVERLASTING
THE THORNTONS
The Nearness of You
The Very Thought of You
If I Can’t Have You
Dream a Little Dream of Me
Someone to Watch Over Me
Till There Was You
I’ll Be Home for Christmas (A Thorntons Christmas)
Disclaimer: Book one of the series, titled The Girl Who Loved Two Princes, is also available on Goodnovel. Read in order for best enjoyment❤️❤️❤️
Book TWO (The Her Before You)
Aria Maine is a new queen in need of a king consort to claim her throne. All three of her suitors come with... complications
Her brother's best friend… is engaged
The bad boy prince she fell for long ago… broke her heart.
Prince charming, her ally in war… his brother slaughtered her entire family.
Three suitors. A ticking clock. Boy oh boy, (oh boy) how does a girl choose?
***
Book THREE (You, Me, Her and Him)
A one night stand. That was all Keira Dormer should have been. Six months later, Aaron Condor is hopelessly in love.
Life robs the young lovers of their moment when Keira's mother, The Queen of Assassins, is murdered.
Now it's six months later. Aaron is on the precipice of giving Emily Maine her shot when Keira crashes their first date to save his life from Kate, her vengeful twin assassin.
In a desperate move to keep Aaron safe, she kidnaps and forces him into a fake engagement.
One week together to put her mother's murder to bed. Then they would part ways forever. This was the deal.
Keira isn't the only one who has a past with Aaron though. Lady Emily Maine has loved him for years. She's so smitten she plans to get him back from his fake fiancée.
But will her crusade be successful when she keeps clashing with her former flame, notorious playboy assassin, Duke Nathan Dormer?
A murder to solve. A second chance to claim a lost love. But which woman is Aaron's HEA? The assassin with one foot out the door or the CEO with one too many secrets?
King Alexander , now angry and hurt , hunts down the newly wedded couple. He will do anything to get Rosemary back by his side , even if that meant burning her childhood home to the ground.
Now on the run , with no place to go , Rosemary and her companions reconnect with a mystery person whose sole purpose is to keep them safe. However , will the help of this person be enough to stop Alexander? Or will he eventually find Rosemary and make her his?
_________________________________________________________________________________
This book is the third in it's series :
Book 1# - Be careful what you wish for
Book 2# - Carefully she had wished
Book 3# - A desperate wish
This book is still based on the past , on the origin of Rosemary and Xavier's story.
Lady Olivia Cavendish had resigned herself to spinsterhood after she had been jilted by her fiancé. She's beautiful and rich, her father is the Duke of Devonshire. But she learned the hard way that being the daughter of a Duke does not always guarantee happiness. Mr. Jacob Townshend, a self-made man, rich beyond reason and handsome as the very devil arrives in England after spending seven years on the continent. These past years had turned the once good-natured Jacob into a heartless rogue. Read "Romancing a Spinster" to find out what happens when this heartless rouge romances our spinster.
Raised in her father's gang, the young gypsy Emma Ferguson was persecuted all her life by the puritanical society of the 19th century, yet she never felt completely part of the Romani group. Vivacious and intelligent, the beautiful Emma only wished to find her true self and live the experiences she had been denied over the 20 years of her life, when an unsuccessful performance made her worst nightmares come true in that cursed Scottish town.
Emma only survives all this with the help of the handsome British gentleman, Henry Dashwood, whom she met during the fateful performance, and when he rescues her from the roadside, she begins a new and dangerous journey.
In a society where gypsy origin is considered worthy of capital punishment, Henry has decided to help Emma get back on her feet, and hatches a plan that could be the salvation or ruin of them both.
Amelia just got divorce from her husband. Going on a vacation to England was all she hoped for as the court has given her one of Jacob's properties in England, The Denham Manor, but who knew that travelling there would set off a chain of extraordinary events in her life?
Being taken back in time and in the body of Duchess Katherine, the wife of Duke Dane, who had committed suicide by drowning herself because her love was never returned– or so everyone thought. While living in the body of Duchess Katherine more secrets from the past begin to unfold and so as her life becomes a romance.
Who would have thought that while unveiling the cause of Duchess Katherine's death that three men would fall in love with her?
Honestly, the order question comes up so much that the Wikipedia page for Louise Penny has a neatly formatted table with publication years. It's the most reliable source. I'd just send people there. It's accurate and updated with the latest releases. No need to rely on forum memory, though it's fun to discuss the 'why' behind the order.
I don't know... I tried 'The Brutal Telling' first because the title grabbed me. The mystery was good, but all the stuff about the couple running the B&B and the old poet lady felt like inside jokes I wasn't in on. I think I'll go back and try 'Still Life' after all. The writing was beautiful enough to make me want the full context.
I've seen lists that try to group them by 'mystery type' or 'emotional tone,' suggesting you read all the 'lighter' ones first. That's a terrible idea. The tonal shifts are intentional. The darkness of later books is earned by the lightness of earlier ones. You need the contrast.
Library waitlists can be long for the latest book. If you're starting, maybe put holds on the first three or four in order. While you wait for the later ones, you have the early ones to enjoy. This staggered approach enforced by library availability actually worked perfectly for me—it gave me time to sit with each book's events before rushing to the next. So even practical constraints can reinforce the benefits of order. It's a series to be savored, not binged in a random frenzy.
Honestly, just look up the list on Louise Penny's official website or a major bookstore site; they always have them in the correct sequence. The series is up to, what, eighteen books now? It's easy to get them mixed up if you try to remember from memory. The titles don't always scream 'this is next!' like some series do. I made the mistake of reading 'The Brutal Telling' before 'A Rule Against Murder' once and was so confused about a couple of character dynamics. Save yourself the headache and bookmark a reliable list.
The geography expands. You start almost entirely confined to Three Pines. Then you go to Montreal, to a remote monastery, to an art college, to a secluded manor. With each book, the world gets bigger, but Three Pines always draws everyone back. That push and pull—the safe, insular village versus the dangerous, complex outside world—is the engine of the series' progression.