Hundreds of years ago, a small order of monks travelled across the ocean from Europe to Canada and hid itself in the wilderness of Quebec away from the Inquisition. There they remained hidden until two years before the beginning of The Beautiful Mystery, when an inferior compact disk of stunningly beautiful Gregorian chants appeared and became popular worldwide. Reporters eventually traced the origins of the CD back to the remote monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups. Pilgrimages to the monastery began, but no one was admitted. At the beginning of Louise Penny’s latest novel, two men, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir, arrive at the monastery and they are admitted. They have been summoned to investigate the murder of the monastery’s prior.
Gamache and Beauvoir soon discover that there is a serious rift among the monks, between the men who agree with the dead prior that the monastery should make another CD so it can pay for badly needed repairs and the men who believe the CD has ruined their peace. But it is much more difficult to determine who murdered the prior, who was also the choir conductor. A critical piece of evidence may be a scrap of paper the prior was clutching when he died, which contains neumes–the precursors to musical notation that indicate the rise and fall of the chants–and nonsense syllables in Latin.
Gamache’s and Beauvoir’s work is interrupted by the arrival of their superior, Superintendent Francoeur, a man who hates Gamache and is determined to destroy him. Soon it becomes obvious that his intent is to drive a wedge between Gamache and Beauvoir.
As always with Penny, the mystery is atmospheric and absorbing. I haven’t been happy lately, though, with the direction she has been taking Beauvoir.
What? Me Read? 
Uh oh. What is happening with Beauvoir? And, this sounds like maybe it’s a series. Do I need to start at the beginning, or can I jump right in?
It is a series. I did not read it in order, and in some ways wished I had. I suggest reading one, and if you want to read more, starting from the beginning.