Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • A World of Curiosities

  • Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 18
  • By: Louise Penny
  • Narrated by: Adam Sims
  • Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (150 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
A World of Curiosities cover art

A World of Curiosities

By: Louise Penny
Narrated by: Adam Sims
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Man Lay Dead cover art
The Key cover art
Hidden in Snow cover art
The Dentist cover art
Say It With Poison, Mitchell and Markby Village, Book 1 cover art
The Viaduct Killings cover art
Fatal Isles cover art
The Murderer's Son cover art
DCI Yorke Boxset cover art
The Infirmary: A DCI Ryan Mystery (Multicast Drama) cover art
When Christmas Comes cover art
Rites of Spring cover art
The Landscape of Death cover art
Crime on the Fens cover art
The Sisters cover art
Her Sister's Bones: An Absolutely Gripping Crime Thriller cover art

Summary

Book 18 in the acclaimed and number one-bestselling Three Pines series featuring the beloved Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Soon to be a major TV series.

It's spring and Three Pines is reemerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should reemerge.

But something has.

As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Sûreté du Québec investigators' lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they've arrived in the village of Three Pines.

But to what end?

Gamache and Beauvoir's memories of that tragic case, the one that first brought them together, come rushing back. Did their mother's murder hurt them beyond repair? Have those terrible wounds, buried for decades, festered and are now about to erupt?

As Chief Inspector Gamache works to uncover answers, his alarm grows when a letter written by a long dead stone mason is discovered. In it the man describes his terror when bricking up an attic room somewhere in the village. Every word of the 160-year-old letter is filled with dread. When the room is found, the villagers decide to open it up.

As the bricks are removed, Gamache, Beauvoir and the villagers discover a world of curiosities. But the head of homicide soon realizes there's more in that room than meets the eye. There are puzzles within puzzles, and hidden messages warning of mayhem and revenge.

In unsealing that room, an old enemy is released into their world. Into their lives. And into the very heart of Armand Gamache's home.

©2022 Louise Penny (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

'Electrifying drama ... the bodies pile up, the intensity and horror are reminiscent of Thomas Harris at his finest. Gamache is a fascinatingly complex protagonist ... The way Penny explores the meaning of this line from Auden's Twelve Songs: VIII - "There is always another story, there is more than meets the eye" - makes it one of her very best' BOOK OF THE MONTH, THE TIMES

'Penny delves into the nature of evil, sensitively exploring the impact of the dreadful events she describes while bringing a warmth and humanity to her disparate cast of characters that, unusually for a crime novel, leaves you feeling better about the world once you've finished' BOOK OF THE MONTH, OBSERVER 

'Bestseller Penny's virtuoso 18th novel featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Québec Sûreté ... blends nuanced characterization with nail-biting suspense ...This tale of forgiveness and redemption will resonate with many' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

What listeners say about A World of Curiosities

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    122
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    124
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    114
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another really good story

I have loved the whole series. This story as previous ones is gripping, interesting and very well performed. Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another excellent book

I have now listened to the books. It’s hard to know which is the best but this would be in the top!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

World if Curiosities

One of her best.
Thrilling and a little bit scary.
Really good plot line.
Recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intricately woven tale

Another fantastic rip roaring read by Louise Penny, she never disappoints with her Gamache epic.
Read superbly by Adam Sims.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great narration but the story is average

As previously the narrator is excellent and manages to go give all the players their own voice & bring out characters. The story lets it down somewhat being the tired “serial killer targets hero with outlandish plot” trope that deserves to die as horribly as some of the victims. Well told but unnecessary.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best crime / detective series written

Brilliant as always.
Characters like daily companions, written so well. Loved them all. Like no other series and I long for more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • TK
  • 27-10-23

A good read

A good story. Well described characters. Good narration. One star deducted for the fact that there are no pauses when switching to talking about another plot thread, making it a bit confusing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stunning, beautifully written and read. Never disappoints

I can’t wait til the next one. These books have been so good for my soul. Full of emotional intelligence. Tender, brutal, wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Five big Stars!

Totally gripping from start to finish. Loved the characters, the plot, the twists and turns, the time-shifts and the writing. Never confusing but always intruiging, with the answers tantalising just out of reach until very near the end. Even then, there's an excellent several-way split as to who's the main perpetrator. A definite cut above!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!

Apart from one book, I have absolutely loved and devoured this series. I’ve had this in my library for quite some time, I’ll get them on pre-order and then I don’t want to listen because I don’t want them to be over!

Crimes are always interesting even if you know who it is. This was just brilliant, especially after a run of extremely disappointing books, my faith in audiobooks is renewed.

Apparently this is going to be made into a TV series which I imagine will be very good, but I won’t be able to watch it whilst the books are still being written (which I hope will be for a very long time) because I don’t want my interpretation of the characters to change by seeing them visualised by another.

This was so enjoyable, as were the others. I love all the characters, all their broken parts, the misfits and imperfect characters that meld together into this tight community. Louise Penny, Adam Sims, and Gamache. A marriage made absolutely, in audiobook heaven! Next, please! Quickly! And thank you to all, including the residents of Three Pines.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!