Review: Miss Wolcott’s Ghost

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Cover image "Miss Wolcott's Ghost" by Louise Penny

Miss Wolcott’s Ghost

Miss Wolcott’s Ghost (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, 21), Louise Penny. Minotaur Books (ISBN: 9781250412607) 2026

Summary: A call during the night connects back to Clara Morrow and leads to a decomposed body surrounded by a mysterious plant.

“There’s a body in Lost Nation.”

The call came to Armand Gamache’s personal phone at 3:17 am. The voice seemed familiar…and terrified. No number showed up on the caller ID but a trace showed it had come from Clara Morrow.

Lost Nation. It truly was a lost place, although known to one man in a nearby village. It was not far from Three Pines. So, the old man guides them there. And in a cemetery they find a badly decomposed body. Around it, and through it, they find growing a plant they’ve never seen before. The country’s leading botanist, Dr. Lagace, identifies it as Miss Wolcott’s Ghost, a plant thought to be extinct.

It was one of the plants found by an eccentric amateur botanist, Daisy Wolcott, over a century ago. She frittered away a fortune on journeys to gather plants. The scientific establishment thought her a kook. In the end, she scattered seeds of the plant in neighbors gardens wherever she went in Europe. Ugly, and invasive, they eradicated it. Or so they thought until it turns up in a grave. In Canada.

The body. A man in an old tweed suit. An autopsy revealed the killer hit him over the head with a shovel. He’s laying by a tombstone with the date May 29, 1914. There is no name, just an etched drawing of the herb rosemary. He’d probably been murdered in March, several months earlier. He had no ID and was so badly decomposed as to not be readily identifiable.

The date. May 29, 1914 was the day of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland, an actual event in which more passengers died than on the Titanic. But what connection did the body have to that tragedy?

Clara Morrow. Her phone didn’t make the call. Someone cloned her SIM card. She’d had two visitors around the time of the death, a genealogist by the name of Brian Fillmore and a journalist by the name of Jeannette Bouchard. Investigators discovered evidence that Clara’s house was searched. As the investigation unfolds, it turns out the interest was in Clara’s deceased husband Peter’s ancestors.

Lost Nation again. While researching its history, they discover a 1967 recorded interview of a young archivist with area resident Flossy Fuller. It ends with the word’s “and then there was the murder.” The next day, the young archivist and Flossy die in a tragic auto accident.

The voice. So, Gamache thought the voice familiar. When Gamache and Beauvoir visit, Reunion, the genealogy company Brian Fillmore and his brother Charles started, they encounter Gaston Comeau. He is a pariah to them. A former Surete’ officer, he had acted with cowardice under fire, compromising his team and in the second instance, jeopardizing Gamache. They turn away. Then he identifies himself with the words of the mysterious call and claims he can help

These are the pieces Gamache and his team must make sense of to find the killer of the man on the grave. Reading the story felt like staring at the pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle, trying to figure out how they all go together. Meanwhile, Miss Wolcott’s Ghost grows in Gamache’s garden, transplanted by Dr. Lagace. What is this ugly plant and how does it connect to a murder a century after it went extinct?

However, as we gaze at the puzzle pieces, we do so in the wonderful setting of Three Pines. Ruth and Rosa are having at it with Jean-Guy. The Bistro keeps serving up yummy food and drinks as the team and the residents puzzle over the mystery. Myra, as always, brings perceptive insights. Louise Penny must have heeded the fans who wanted more Three Pines.

While all this goes on, Gamache and others mentally replay the events during which Comeau betrayed the team. We learn that Gamache had hand-picked Comeau. And scene by scene he recalls confrontations with violent sociopaths doing mass killings at fast food restaurants, while Comeau hides in one instance, and is taken hostage the second time after disobeying orders. Having proven untrustworthy twice, how can they trust him now?

Louise Penny has created an intricate puzzle for readers, one that kept me turning the pages as I turned the pieces to see how they fit. It’s a story over a century in the making, and in the end, all the pieces fit in ways both surprising and delightful.

Review: How Then Shall We Read?

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Cover image of "How Then Shall We Read?" by Max Botner

How Then Shall We Read?

How Then Shall We Read, Max Botner. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883841) 2026.

Summary: An introductory textbook combining New Testament introduction and biblical hermeneutics.

In How Then Shall We Read?, Max Botner has written a book that may be used as a college text or for adult education. He combines two separate fields, New Testament introduction and biblical hermeneutics in a single book that may be used over a semester. This is less a traditional introduction to the New Testament, than an approach that uses hermeneutical basics with application to the New Testament, getting at many of the issues that arise in a more traditional introduction.

After an introduction where he lays out this approach, he proceeds with seven chapters concerning what “matters” in New Testament interpretation.

Interpretation Matters. He argues off the bat that biblicism, as Christian Smith has outlined it, perverts sola Scriptura. Rather, the issue is to develop interpretive virtues reflecting our embodiment. We look behind, within, and in front of the text. Then we also seek to cultivate the interpretive virtues of clarity, critical reflection, and charity. We do this self-aware of our interpretive location. Then we engage the text as wholly other. We follow this by opening the text to listen to the rich conversation across the canon and across the church. Finally, we embody the text as it intersects with our world. The following chapters proceed from this process.

Theology Matters. Consideration is given to the text of scripture as we have it and the canon(s). What does this mean for reading this text as Holy Scripture and how does our theology of inspiration and authority inform that reading? While we read by faith, shaped by these beliefs, Botner argues that “we let the Bible be the Bible.” We should not ask it to behave in ways it never promises to.”

History Matters. This addresses historical criticism, particularly understanding the world behind Jesus, Paul, and the gospels. This includes the ideas, identities, and institutions that shaped the early Jesus movement. Botner includes discussions of the synoptic problem, the undisputed and disputed Pauline letters, and the Jewish and Roman worlds behind the text.

Literature Matters. The chapter focuses on genre analysis and the basic genres of different books and the genres to be found within books. Many interpretive differences arise in disagreements about the genre of the text.

Language Matters. Botner begins by exploring how words mean and avoiding linguistic fallacies. Rather, words are part of discourses and Botner shows the student how to do a discourse analysis of the text.

Canonical Conversations Matter. Here the student will explore how the different voices within scripture are part of one conversation, illuminating each other. Botner considers how New Testament writers interpreted scripture. He elaborates five guiding principles for reading canonically.

Catholic Conversations Matter. Finally, he suggests we ought to read with the whole church in three ways: with the dead, with the majority world (outside the West), and with minority scholars within our own culture.

Each chapter also begins with quotes drawn from a variety of figures throughout history, illustrating how we read with the whole church. The chapters conclude with both a prayer from scripture and from a person in church history. Discussion questions on chapter content follow. Finally, each chapter includes an exercise, ranging from a self-awareness essay at the beginning, through use of historical, genre, discourse, and canonical analysis, and several concluding essays.

I found the way Botner models clarity, critical reflection, and charity to be the most winsome aspect of the book. Apart from the initial discussion of biblicism, which I felt important in “ground-clearing,” the book was free from polemical discussion. As exemplified in the prayers, the focus of the book was indeed on discovering divine love through the study of the scriptures. The exercises give readers room to develop their own interpretive skills and voice while growing more aware of their own social location. While the focus is the New Testament, much of what readers learn about interpretation is applicable to the Old Testament. Finally, I so appreciate his concluding chapter on reading the Bible with the whole church, a dimension I’ve only discovered later in life.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Moving Pictures

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Cover image of "Moving Pictures" by Terry Pratchett

Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures (Discworld, 10), Terry Pratchett. Harper Perennial (ISBN: 9780063393356) 2025, first published 1990.

Summary: Victor, a failed student wizard and “Ginger” are drawn to Holy Wood to star in motion pictures but unleash unholy powers.

An old man dies near Holy Wood, setting loose forces long buried. Within months, Holy Wood becomes the home of moving pictures. Alchemists from Ankh-Morpork have invented a process by which tiny demons in a box paint images onto film, shown as “clicks” in theaters with machines using phosphorescent creatures to project the film images.

And so begins a craze that sweeps Ankh-Morpork. And Victor Tugelbend, a student wizard who deliberately fails and Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler, a sausage sandwich vendor are drawn to Holy Wood along with lots of wannabe “stars including Theda “Ginger” Withel. Victor and Ginger become stars. Meanwhile, Dibbler exchanges sausage vending for running the show, making bigger and bigger films culminating with Blown Away (a satire on Gone With The Wind).

Something special has descended upon them all, even Gaspode, a mutt of a dog who starts talking. He becomes Victor and Ginger’s agent (as well as Leddy, the Wonder Dog). On screen, Victor and Ginger have a “chemistry” that crowds flock to see. Posters portray them in a passionate “clinch.” Victor is the dashing hero rescuing the girl.

But it is all unreal, and something more sinister is going on. Ginger sleep walks to Holy Wood Hill, opening a door that releases unholy beings into the world. Victor, along with Gaspode, are the only ones who realize something sinister is afoot. But can they stop it before the beings take over Ankh Morpork?

It all culminates in the premiere of Blown Away. A series of zany scenes follow including a monstrous “Ginger” that holds the baboon librarian in its clutches (a humorous reversal of King Kong) and wizards in wheelchairs and on broomsticks. But will Victor succeed in being the real life hero?

At one level, it is all great fun with lots of satire and tongue in cheek parody of Hollywood. At another level, it makes me wonder about the “unreality” that the industry looses on the world and the consequences. Whatever is the case, I hope Victor Tugelbend will be back, for the name if nothing else!

Review: Christ and Covenant in Global Politics

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Cover image of "Christ and Covenant in Global Politics" by Robert J. Joustra

Christ and Covenant in Global Politics

Christ and Covenant in Global Politics, Robert J. Joustra. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514007860) 2026.

Summary: A vision for global politics grounded in justice as rightly ordered love and covenantal pluralism.

Robert Joustra undertakes what few have tried to do–articulate a Christian vision for international politics. To do so, Joustra draws upon Augustinian and Reformed thought which he distills into two major ideas. The first of these is justice as rightly ordered love–ordo amoris. The second of these is covenantal pluralism–relations reflecting shared love expressed in shared commitments. They are pluralistic because the agreed upon political goods are proximate and penultimate, not requiring ultimate bonds

The book is in three parts. The first explores the question of justice in international relations. After articulating a biblical groundwork for his two main ideas, he discusses how realism, liberal internationalism, communism, and social constructivism conflict with his biblical account.

The second part, then, explores systems of justice in international relations. The big insight is that unlike systems of states, and the appearance of some form of global order in things like the G20, in fact anarchy is the rule of international relations. In such a situation, Joustra argues for an international politics based not on law but covenantal relations between countries built on a measure of trust and shared values, even though different countries might ground those values differently. The outstanding example of this is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The third part explores justice in action in international relations. He explores responses to plague, pestilence, and global boundaries as examples of the “tragedy of the commons.” Rather than global governance, Joustra points to covenant-like agreements such as those addressing ozone, acid rain, and ocean acidification. These were proximate rather than ultimate solutions. He wrestles with the morality of markets and economic life. And he articulates a version of just war theory as best conforming to rightly ordered love when nations resort to armed conflict and conclude those conflicts.

Some may fault Joustra for the lack of specific solutions to the international challenges faced by any statesperson. Personally, I’m glad he does not articulate visions of a global order, which are either scary or impractical. Rather, for the Christian engaged in statecraft, he articulates a basic framework of loving justice and covenantal relations, often in more localized spheres, such as North America, or the EU. Proximate agreements rather than ultimate solutions move justice between countries forward in a fallen world. Rather than hubris and power contests, he articulates what it is to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly” on an international basis. This is a valuable introduction that I’d love to see worked out in practice. And it makes a case that this is noble work for Christians.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Weathering Change

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Cover image of "Weathering Change" by Courtney Ellis

Weathering Change

Weathering Change, Courtney Ellis. InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514012826) 2026.

Summary: What we can learn from observing both nature and scripture about facing change, meeting it with courage and grace.

One of the constants in life is change. Yet, many times we like stasis and change is an unwelcome guest. Courtney Ellis writes about her book, Weathering Change:

“Here I’m seeking deeper and fuller answers to two questions I suspect are nearly universal. The first is this: Why is change so damn hard? The second is its deeper companion: How might we find peace amid life’s tough transitions?

She doesn’t think there are simple answers or formulas. Her approach is to listen to the “subtle instruction” of God’s two books–creation and scripture. Like her previous book, Looking Up, a book using her study of birds to draw lessons about grieving, Ellis invites us to attend to how various creatures in nature respond to change, particularly the changing seasons. She found her observations fell into four categories, around which she has organized this book: preparation, curiosity, adaptability, and resilience.

Preparation. By preparing, we are better equipped to deal with change. Stasis, periods of stability actually help us prepare for change, just as the chrysalis is critical to forming butterflies and torpor or dormancy for surviving winter. Forests brim with life, even as winter descends. Trees bud in the fall, with a bud scale to protect the bud until spring, when new leaves blossom forth. Young birds resist leaving the nest but must fledge. Every change is hard but takes us further down the path of our transformation until the resurrection. Our own fledging.

Curiosity. It helps, when we face change to approach with open-minded interest instead fear and defensiveness. It begins with noticing. Expert birders can identify birds at great distance by their flight signatures. Sometimes, in life this means curiosity that explores why we are reacting in a certain way to change. Like the Psalmist, we ask, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” Transitional spaces are like nature’s ecotones, where two habitats meet, both rich and dangerous. They bid us to lean into faith.

Creation is unkind to aging creatures, who become prey. Aging is also a human reality, the constant change we begin to notice in our forties. Curiosity helps us grow in our tolerance for the uncertain, learning to say “yes” to the next step on the road, though we don’t have a map of the whole journey. Animals often function in groups or flocks, and curiosity often means going to the flock for insight as we face change. Just as creatures know mysteriously when to migrate, we can trust God to help us know when to walk into change and to go with us on the journey.

Adaptation. Then, many creatures have adapted to urban environments. Life often takes us out of our native habitats and offers the chance to adapt to new ones, increasing our longing for our eternal home. Climate change confronts us with changes beyond our control. There are other changes like this, such as changes of loss, that call us to lament, and often to grieve with others rather than alone. Creatures adapt to winters that could kill them and resist until spring. Anna, in scripture, lost her husband after seven years, and fasted and prayed and worshiped until 84, and the day she met a child Messiah in the temple. Another animal adaptation is molting. We await the final “molt.” Meanwhile, we meet change and wear and tear with adaptations, New normals. From water molecules, we learn flexibility, that life finds a way and flows around obstacles.

Resilience. In change, we learn to bounce back and reach new stable places of flourishing. We learn to work with the wind of the Spirit facing the winds of change. Prairie plants often need to be disturbed to put down deeper, new roots. Decomposition may be unpleasant to sight and smell. Yet, it leads to new life, and so for us amid the breakdown of change. The final resilience is in endings, in finishing well, whether a season or a life. Our hope is that ending ushers into a glorious new beginning

As she concludes, Ellis invites us into a life of wonder that will take us through all our changes. Throughout, she has shown us how the two books of creation and scripture help us meet changes. She vulnerably takes us through her own changes, whether that of geography and career or navigating perimenopause. The text and the reflection guide that follows open for us a way of learning from God’s world and God’s Word that doesn’t make the pain of change vanish but enables us to walk through it with resolve and peace.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

The Weekly Wrap: November 1-7

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The Weekly Wrap: November 1-7

Bibliosmia

Wiktionary defines it as “the pleasant smell and aroma of a new (or any) book, caused by the gradual chemical breakdown of the compounds used within the paper.” It can also refer to the act of smelling books. Maybe that’s why I like secondhand bookstores so much. They all remind me of the smell of the books stored in a closet in my childhood bedroom.

You know that smell. It smells like vanilla, or almonds, or chocolate, although you may have different associations. It’s funny how smells trigger memories. Not only those books from my childhood. The stacks in our library. And the scent that pervaded countless secondhand bookstores I explored over the years. It’s the smell that says “come and read.”

It turns out the word “bibliosmia” is of recent origin. It was coined in a tweet in 2014 by an academic, Oliver Tearle. He later wrote an article in 2017, “On the Science of Bibliosmia: That Enticing Book Smell.” He not only explains the chemistry behind the smell. Tearle speculates that it might account for why e-books never replaced physical books. They don’t have that smell.

Now, not all books smell pleasant. We don’t like the musty smell of mildewed books. Unless they are incredibly rare or important, it’s best to throw them out before those spores spread to other books. Then there are books that have acquired unpleasant smells from their previous owners, most often those who smoked.

We’ve learned that a sniff test is a good idea before buying secondhand books. Thumbs up if it has that typical “old book” smell. Thumbs down on anything that wrinkles the nose. It only smells worse at home.

And now you know there is a name for that pleasant olfactory sensation you get walking into a bookstore: bibliosmia.

Five Articles Worth Reading

Adam Mars-Jones reviews a new biography of J.R.R. Tolkien in “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Life Was Unexciting. His Work Is Anything But.” Mars-Jones makes an interesting observation about Tolkien in a point of disagreement with the author, D. J. Taylor: “Tolkien was an obsessive rewriter and reviser, who for instance purged drafts of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ of any reference to religious practice in Middle-earth, so that a Christian worldview could emerge without being spelled out.”

In “The Time Is Right for a ‘Great Books’ Revival,” Joshua Bennett argues that with the advent of AI, students need foundations in these timeless works and describes his involvement with such a curriculum at MIT.

Then Christine Norvell, in “Teaching Tragedy in Tragic Times: Relying on Dante and Aristotle,” offers a specific example. She observes, “Seeing a great soul in pain or death should transform these concepts of pain and death for us because tragedy involves the dignity and significance of human life, and often, man’s ability to endure suffering.”

From Great Books to phone books. Remember phone books? In the days before cell phones and caller ID, you could look up a person’s or a business’s phone number and call them (and often talk to a real person). Yet, in “How the Phone Book Taught America to Ask for Answers,” we learn that calling “Information” was often the route we chose instead.

I’ve always found the Edward Hopper painting “Nighthawks” arresting. It portrays a few people at an old-fashioned diner at night. I not only learned “The Story Behind Edward Hopper’s Iconic Painting, ‘Nighthawks’ ” in Louis Shadwick’s article, an excerpt from his new biography of Hopper. I also put the book on my “wantlist” as a result!

Quote of the Week

Novelist Colson Whitehead was born November 6, 1969. He wisely observes something I’ve learned to pay more attention to as I’ve grown older;

“What isn’t said is as important as what is said.”

Miscellaneous Musings

A couple weeks ago, in my comments about Christianity Today, I mentioned a publication I’ve come to value, Mere Orthodoxy. I’ve enjoyed a number of their online articles (including one by Christine Norvell above). I mentioned awhile back “The Faith Received,” a section of their website devoted to ancient Christian texts. They describe their mission as “Forming Christians in the Church to participate in culture for the common good.” Anyway, last night I put money where my mouth is and became a member. Less than several other subscriptions and it seems an effort well worth supporting.

I’m thoroughly enjoying Miss Wolcott’s Ghost, Louise Penny’s latest. Once again, much of the story unfolds in Three Pines with more descriptions of delicious food at the Bistro, more delightful interactions between Ruth Zardo (and Rosa) and Jean Guy, and a plot focused around Clara Morrow. After several set elsewhere, I think Penny listened to her readers and returned to the village that is not on any maps.

Just started Hope for the Mission by Kevin Nye. He challenges the typical model of most missions to the homeless, arguing that the first step is to actually get them into a home. I’d like to see how that’s done.

Next Week’s Reviews

Monday: Courtney Ellis, Weathering Change

Tuesday: Robert Joustra, Christ and Covenant in Global Politics

Wednesday: Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

Thursday: Max Botner, How Then Shall We Read?

Friday: Louise Penney, Miss Wolcott’s Ghost

So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for November 1-7.

Find past editions of The Weekly Wrap under The Weekly Wrap heading on this page