Still Life

Apart from Gamache, Clara’s perspective is the one most often shared by readers. As Jane’s best friend, she is the one who suffers most when Jane dies. A middle-aged artist with an intuitive nature, Clara is a relatively free spirit, disorganized and prone to flashes of inspiration, whereas her husband Peter is more methodical. Clara’s artwork is described as having feminist overtones, and she is the one who suggests that the ritual following Jane’s death be reserved for women. Far more than a passive observer, Clara plays a key role in solving the mystery, as her analysis of Fair Day provides a key insight.

Clara’s character arc centers on her devastation following Jane’s death. At first, Clara is all but inconsolable, until Peter helps rekindle her faith. As she lends her efforts to the investigation of Jane’s death and to new artistic projects, she begins to replace bitterness with acceptance and then peace. Her crowning work of art features an egg that might be a rock, or vice versa, symbolizing the coexistence of “life and death, inseparable” (311). Clara’s ability to adjust, adapt, and move forward reveals her life to be anything but “still.”

Ben Hadley is quiet, unassuming, charming—and deadly. The murderer of both his mother and her friend, Ben is unremarkable in almost every other way, including his professorial appearance. Though there is ample evidence of his talent and intelligence, he puts it to little use. Unlike Clara and Gamache, he rarely takes any initiative, unless it is to complain, whether regarding discrimination against anglophones or (invented) wrongs committed by his mother.

In mystery fiction, the murderer typically exhibits one or more flaws and weaknesses that provide opportunities for social commentary and make him or her vulnerable to detection. In Ben’s case, his stagnant, unproductive, self-centered “still” life contrasts with the vibrant, dynamic lives of the other characters. Ironically, as Peter observes, it is Ben’s rare departure from his passive lifestyle that allows Gamache to identify him as the murderer. Ben’s character is a static one as he remains unrepentant, but the reader’s perception of him changes dramatically following the revelation of his guilt.

Yvette Nichol has a unique set of motivations for becoming a Sûreté officer. As a child, her father tells her stories of political persecution in Czechoslovakia, but she fails to realize that the stories are made up. Wanting to avoid making the mistakes of her “stupid Uncle Saul” (30), she joins the police force and sets her sights on ascending the ranks, with some success. After just two years in the service, she is promoted to the prestigious homicide team. Unfortunately, her competitive ambitions prove entirely incompatible with Gamache’s team-first work ethic.

Though Gamache is initially impressed by Nichol’s preparation, his approval turns to concern and then alarm as he notes her anti-social tendencies, competitiveness, and cheeky attitude. On multiple occasions, he counsels her and gives her chances to redeem herself, and on each of those occasions, she disappoints him. By the end of the novel, she has come full circle: About to return home to her father, she has convinced herself that she is blameless. Her brand of “still” life provides a different insight than Ben’s does, showing that even those who are busy and ambitious can fall into such unhealthy patterns.