A Rule Against Murder

Invitations have been sent out to visit the Manoir Bellechasse, including one to a house in Three Pines. The mailman takes his time delivering it, as he always does in Three Pines. He enjoys the pace of the small village and the sense that he has stepped out of time. The letter that he is delivering is on rich, heavy stationary, and to him, the handwriting seems to foretell bad news.

Armand Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie, are visiting Manoir Bellechasse for their anniversary. They are annual guests at the lodge and are welcomed by the owner, Madame Dubois. Gamache and Reine-Marie have had a difficult year and are looking forward to their annual custom of relaxing at the lodge. They have been visiting every year for over 30 years, since Gamache was courting Reine-Marie.

Madame Dubois regretfully informs them that all of the rooms at the lodge, save a small room at the back, have been reserved by the Finney family. The Gamaches, however, are not upset; they never specify a room when they stay, preferring to leave it up to fate. Over the next few days, as the Finney family arrives, they become acquainted with the family members, but in the superficial way of travel acquaintances. As Gamache and Reine-Marie read on the patio, he covertly watches all the family members take pains to avoid each other, rousing his curiosity.

When Gamache goes into the lodge to get some sugar for his lemonade, Pierre Patenaude, the maître d’, is flustered, which is unusual for him, because they have run short of sugar. Pierre tells him that, despite the beautiful day, a storm is coming. Gamache believes him, as Pierre’s forecasts are notoriously correct, and the air is thick and hot.

At dinner that night, Gamache and Reine-Marie talk about plans to visit Paris, where their son, Daniel, lives with his family. Daniel and his wife are expecting a child, and if it is a boy, they want to name him Honoré. Gamache is simultaneously touched and troubled by the gesture. After dinner, he walks in the gardens to think about the issue and finds a large white marble cube at the edge of the forest. Returning to the lodge, he sees Julia, a member of the Finney family, smoking on the lawn.

Julia confesses her nervousness over being with her family again to Gamache. She hasn’t seen them in years and almost didn’t come. A waiter, Elliot, brings Julia a drink, and Gamache gets the impression that he had been eavesdropping from around the corner. Then he chastises himself for seeing danger everywhere, even in a place where he should be relaxing.

Julia came to the lodge a few days early, as she is waiting for her divorce to be finalized. Gamache is familiar with the divorce because her husband, David Martin, one of Canada’s wealthiest men, is now in prison for a pyramid scheme in which people lost millions of dollars. Julia pledged to pay the money back and so is looked on favorably by the public. Gamache wonders why she is outside alone rather than inside with her family. She also tells him that her younger brother, Spot, and his wife, Claire, will be arriving tomorrow. Her tone is ominous, and Gamache thinks of the marble cube he came upon, realizing that it reminded him of a grave marker.

Pierre, the maître d’, is confounded by Elliot, a young waiter who has turned the staff against him. He is angry when he enters the kitchen and finds Elliot mocking Julia Martin to the staff. After he admonishes Elliot, Chef Veronique tells Pierre to relax, reminding him that Elliot is young.

When Gamache and Julia go inside, everyone is having after-dinner drinks. Thomas, the eldest brother, invites Gamache and Reine-Marie to play bridge. The family is tense, which seems to be their usual state. Marianna, the youngest sister, takes her child, Bean, up to bed, and as they pass, Gamache sees that Bean is carrying a mythology book.

While Gamache and Reine-Marie play bridge with Thomas and his wife, Sandra, the matriarch of the family, Irene Finney, offers advice to the players. She and Reine-Marie also talk about how Quebec has changed. When they were younger, the Québécois were the servant class, and Reine-Marie tells them that her mother cleaned houses. Thomas tells Gamache about the stone plant, which survives in the South African desert by pretending to be stone.

Thomas reports that Spot and Claire are coming the next day. Gamache hears the same tension in Thomas’s voice that he had in Julia’s. He also realizes that everything they say to each other is loaded with double meanings. 

As they settle in for the night, Gamache and Reine-Marie discuss Spot’s arrival—they are not impressed with what they’ve heard and aren’t looking forward to meeting him. Pierre, closing down the dining room, wonders if his father would have been disappointed in him. Marianna checks on Bean, wondering if she should do something about the child’s obsession with alarm clocks, which are scattered across the room. She is dreading Spot’s arrival as well.

Julia takes off her jewelry, wondering what Gamache must think of her, drinking, smoking, and flirting with a waiter. She is angry that, after dinner, Thomas had brought up toilets, a joke about her that the family keeps bringing up. Sandra goes to bed wondering why everyone, including the staff, likes Gamache so much—she assumes that he is a shopkeeper and that the staff members favor them because they are French. Irene begins to cry in the bathroom, and Bert, her husband, listens to her from bed.

The next morning, the air is hot and thick with humidity, preceding the storm that Pierre has predicted. To cool off, Gamache and Reine-Marie take a swim in the lake before breakfast. On the way back to the lodge, he shows her the marble cube, and they ask a nearby gardener about it. Colleen, the gardener, tells them that it was dropped off just a few days ago. 

Gamache and Reine-Marie are reading on the lawn when they hear that Spot and his wife have arrived. When they see the couple, they realize that it is Peter and Clara Morrow, a couple they know and like who live in Three Pines. Gamache realizes that things are not what they seem with this family.

Clara has been dreading the gathering; she quickly escapes the family, leaving Peter talking to Irene and Julia. As Julia absorbs an insult from Peter, she realizes that, having been away from her family for so long, she had forgotten how they were. When Clara rejoins them, Peter tells them about her upcoming show at a prominent Montreal gallery. They all congratulate her, but she doesn’t believe that they are sincere. When Clara sees Gamache and Reine-Marie approaching, she is astonished and pleased to see her friends.

After lunch with the family, Clara wants to find the Gamaches, but Peter feels a responsibility to stay with his family, and she stays with him. Because she is annoyed about it, she picks a fight with him, believing that he told his family about her art opening not to celebrate her but to annoy them.

Madame Dubois tells Gamache that his son, Daniel, had called from Paris. He asks her about the marble cube, and she tells them that it is for a statue of Charles Morrow. They realize that Morrow was Irene’s first husband, which is why her children are Morrows, and not Finneys. The statue is to arrive that day to be placed on the cube. She confesses that she agreed to it because the lodge needs money for repairs.

Later that day, when they catch up with Clara and Peter, Gamache asks Peter how he feels about Clara’s success since he, a painter as well, is used to being the successful one of the couple. Peter admits to some jealousy but is happy for her.

Suddenly, Bean runs out of the garden, screaming. Colleen, the gardener, follows, explaining that she had been playing near the marble cube and was stung by a wasp. While the family is arguing, Gamache removes the stingers from Bean’s arm, and Reine-Marie applies calamine lotion. The family decides to continue with their plan to go boating in the lodge’s verchère (rowboat). Once they are seated, however, there is no room for Bert or Clara, and they are left behind on the dock.