Louise Penny

Louise Penny (born 1958) is a Canadian author of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centred on the work of Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Penny's first career was as a radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After she turned to writing, she won numerous awards for her work, including the Agatha Award for best mystery novel of the year for four consecutive years (2007–2010) and the prestigious Anthony Award for both The Brutal Telling and Bury Your Dead. Her latest book, A Trick of the Light debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list. Her novels are published in 23 languages.

Contents

Early life and career with CBC

Penny was born in Toronto[1] in 1958.[2] Her mother was an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, with a particular liking for crime fiction,[3] and Louise grew up reading mystery writers such as Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Michael Innes.[3]

Penny earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Radio and Television) from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in 1979.[4] After graduation, at age 21, she embarked on an 18-year career as a radio host and journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.[5] At the start of her broadcasting career, Penny took postings at locations far from friends and family, and to help deal with feelings of loneliness and isolation, she increasingly turned to alcohol. At the age of 35, she admitted to an alcohol problem, and has been sober since.[6] Shortly afterward, she met her future husband Michael Whitehead, a Montreal hematologist, on a blind date.[6]

Literary career

After their wedding, Penny left the CBC to take up writing. Although she started on a historical novel, she had difficulty finishing it, and eventually switched to mystery writing.[6] She entered her first novel, Still Life, in the prestigious "Debut Dagger" competition in the United Kingdom, and placed second out of 800 entries.[6] The novel did win a number of other awards, including the "New Blood" Dagger award in the United Kingdom, the Arthur Ellis Award in Canada for best first crime novel, the Dilys Award,[7] the Anthony Award and the Barry Award for Best First Novel in the United States.

Penny has published a further six novels and has enjoyed remarkable success, garnering major crime novel award nominations for almost every one of her novels and subsequently winning several of those awards.[7]

Her oeuvre features Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of the homicide department of the Sûreté du Québec.[8] The novels, although set in the province of Quebec, feature many hallmarks of the British whodunit genre, including murders by unconventional means, bucolic villages, large casts of suspects, red herrings, and a dramatic disclosure of the murderer in the last few pages of the book.[9]

In 2009, Penny helped to launch a new award for aspiring Canadian mystery writers, the Unhanged Arthur for Best Unpublished First Novel.[6]

Penny and her husband currently live in Knowlton, a village south of Montreal.[1]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c "About Louise Penny". LouisePenny.com. 2008. http://www.louisepenny.com/louise.htm. 
  2. ^ "Louise Penny". Fantastic Fiction. 2008. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/louise-penny/. 
  3. ^ a b Wagner, Vit (2010-10-15). "What led them to a life of crime". Toronto Star (Toronto ON Canada =: Torstar Inc.). http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/article/875817--what-led-them-to-a-life-of-crime. Retrieved 2010-10-18. 
  4. ^ The Agony and the Ecstacy: 1979 RTA Yearbook. Toronto. 1979. 
  5. ^ "Louise Penny up for best crime novel award". CBC News. 2008-04-30. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2008/04/30/crimewriting-awards.html. 
  6. ^ a b c d e Yanofsky, Joel (November 2007). "Louise Penny’s second chance: How a troubled past gives her mystery novels an edge". Quill & Quire. http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=8086. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
  7. ^ a b c "Louise Penny Books". LouisePenny.com. 2008. http://www.louisepenny.com/books.htm. 
  8. ^ "Quebec's Louise Penny shortlisted for Agatha mystery award". CBC News. 2010-02-20. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/02/20/penny-brutaltelling-agatha.html. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
  9. ^ "Whodunit". Knowledge Rush. 2009. http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Whodunit/. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
  10. ^ hardcover ISBN 978-0-312-35255-4, paperback ISBN 978-0-312-94855-9, audio CD ISBN 978-0-786-17142-2, audio cassette ISBN 978-0-786-14536-2
  11. ^ hardcover ISBN 978-0-312-35256-1, paperback ISBN 978-0-312-94713-2, audio CD ISBN 978-0-786-15928-4, audio cassette ISBN 978-0-786-16863-7
  12. ^ "Agatha Awards". Malice Domestic. 2008. http://www.malicedomestic.org/agathaawards.html. 
  13. ^ hardcover ISBN 978-0-312-35257-8, paperback ISBN 978-0-312-94450-6, large print ISBN 978-1-410-40716-0, audio CD ISBN 978-1-433-23377-7, audio cassette ISBN 978-1-433-23376-0
  14. ^ hardcover ISBN 978-0-312-37702-1
  15. ^ "Linwood Barclay, Louise Penny touted for best Canadian crime novel". CBC News. 2009-04-24. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/04/23/canadian-mystery-awards.html?ref=rss. Retrieved 2009-04-24. 
  16. ^ "Louise Penny wins Agatha for best mystery". CBC News: Books. 2010-05-03. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/05/03/agatha-awards-louise-penny.html. Retrieved 2010-05-18. 
  17. ^ "Quebec's Louise Penny 'thrilled' by 4th Agatha Award". CBC News. 2011-05-02. http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/05/01/penny-agatha-award.html. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  18. ^ "Louise Penny nabs crime-writing prize". CBC News. 2011-06-03. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/02/crime-writing-awards.html. Retrieved 2011-06-03. 

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