A Trick of the Light

Gamache, like the AA members, faces his grief fully in this section and remains connected to the world, helping to bring closure to The Challenges of Grief and Trauma in the plot. The moment of sympathy between Gamache and Suzanne, where he understands why she chose sobriety over resentment, signals that he, too, has chosen healing. However, even his insights remain imperfect, especially vis-a-vis Brian and Pineault. Here, the “trick of the light” is the nature of appearances: Gamache has assumed that the distinguished judge had the real power in the relationship and that Brian had no value or significance in comparison. Gamache accepts his mistake, affirming that he is willing to evolve.

By contrast, Fortin and Castonguay are each cautionary tales about the refusal to face emotions or to overcome past setbacks in a productive way. Castonguay remains bitter because he pursued recovery out of fear for his career, not out of a real desire for recovery. Fortin, for his part, allowed his grief for his ambition to turn to hatred, which only grew when he saw Clara’s compassion as a threat to his career, and not as an opportunity to truly change.

Beauvoir is still in a more ambiguous position at the end of the novel, setting up his character arc for later books in the series. He remains Gamache’s stalwart ally during the investigation, such as by blocking Fortin’s exit quietly, without fanfare or recognition from anyone aside from Gamache. Nevertheless, he does not promise anyone that he will attend rehab or therapy, suggesting he is placating his mentor and still avoiding the work of real healing. Beauvoir does, however, still have strong relationships. As Myrna points out, his trauma comes from love, a love that he extends to others rather than himself. He finally decides to call Annie, but only after taking a pill. Beauvoir has not yet learned to love himself while pursuing romance, foreshadowing how he will have to face his traumas directly in the coming books.

Clara takes the thematic resonance of The Destructive Power of Jealousy in the case to heart. She fully faces that Peter’s jealousy has damaged her and asks for space from him. She also learns from her earlier impulsivity, as she asks Peter to give her a year, rather than rushing either of them into a reconciliation. Clara’s art mirrors her emotional journey: She has not lost her love for people, and what Marois assumed was a “trick of the light” is her true self. Peter, in contrast, is reluctant to grapple with how jealousy has wrecked his marriage. He tells Clara only part of the truth about his role in her estrangement from Lillian, claiming that he offered faint praise of her work rather than admit that he has been harsh and cruel for much of their relationship. Peter thus maintains the image of a supportive and loving spouse at the cost of authenticity, enabling his jealousy to go on festering.

As the novel comes to a close, Gamache takes on new prominence, as if he is teaching his interlocutors about humanity as much as he is solving a crime. Though he continues to struggle with his own emotional pain, Gamache sees the suspects around him clearly. Others, like Pineault and Clara, try to take on the detective’s role, assuming Castonguay’s active alcohol dependency ended in violence. Gamache points out that the key is in paintings, not those who purchase them: The question of Lillian’s repentance, and Fortin’s destroyed, then warped, ambitions, is bound up in their artwork, bringing Art as a Reflection of Self to its culmination.

The solution to Lillian’s murder does return a kind of peace to the village, in keeping with the requirements of the genre. Rosa returns, ending Ruth’s desperate longing, and she accepts comfort from Olivier with her usual acerbity. Though some inhabitants leave, and others have not fully faced the lessons of the Dyson case, Three Pines is no longer a crime scene. Not all the shadows are removed form Gamache’s world, but the novel’s ending suggests that relationships will always bring light and solace to those who can find and nurture them.