Louise Penny is a beloved author and creator of the #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Globe and Mail bestselling series of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels. This gripping murder mystery saga spans seventeen books, with the eighteenth set to be released later this year. Penny is also co-author of the #1 New York Times bestselling political-mystery novel State of Terror with former United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Before her career as an author, Louise Penny worked as a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2005, Penny published Still Life, the first installment in what would become a massively successful series of murder mystery novels, often referred to as the “Three Pines” series. The decidedly Canadian crime saga takes place in a fictional Quebec town called “Three Pines,” and features the native French speaker Inspector Armand Gamache.
Huffington Post contributor Nina Sankovitch observes, “Penny uses the history of old Canada to set up her characters, and illustrate their differing personalities and backgrounds. She then takes on huge themes—memory, guilt, hope, love, friendship—that are amplified but never overtaken by the murder mystery the quietly heroic and hugely kind Inspector Gamache must solve.”
In 2017, Penny received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. Penny is also the recipient of a CWA Dagger Award, multiple Agatha Awards, and she was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel, among other honors.
Terry Tazioli, our moderator for the evening, was born and raised in Seattle. He holds a BA in Communication from the University of Washington and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Missouri. During his career in the news business, he worked for the East Side Journal in Kirkland, the East Side Journal in Bellevue and KING5 News and The Seattle Times, both in Seattle. He was an assignment editor for nightly news at KING and then producer of the news magazine program Top Story. He was Scene editor at The Times and then Travel Editor before leaving the newspaper in 2008. Following that, he hosted an author interview program called Author’s Hour for TVW, Washington State’s public affairs network; then become co-host of the PBS books program Well Read; and finally worked for a short time for University Book Store in Seattle before retiring.
