Peter Moss

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team arrive in Three Pines to solve the unusual murder of a much-loved woman and find dark secrets shadowing this usually peaceful village.

Arthur, D.W., and their family and friends prepare to make the best Christmas ever in Elwood City - but obstacles get in their way.

Based on the novel by Mordechai Richler - Winner of the 1971 Governor General's Award - this is the story of Jake, a film director of modest success and a man in disgrace. His alter ego, his cousin Joey - Nazi-hunter, adventurer, hero of the Spanish Civil War - is the avenging horseman of Jake's impotent dreams.

Young lovers Hero and Claudio, soon to wed, conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well.

The Thomsons - parents Thomas and Francie, and children Willa, Arthur, Beatrice (nicknamed Booky) and Jakey - are a loving working class family living in the Depression era in Toronto. Arthur is showing aptitude in drawing, and although his parents want to support his skill, Thomas in particular wants him to take up a vocation that is a little more stable. Willa, the part time librarian, is attracted to Russell, the medical student she meets at the library. And 11-year old Booky is happy that she has been asked to tutor the new older sixth grade student, Georgie Dunlop, in spelling, since she has a crush on him, her first ever. She just can't wait for him to ask her to the school dance. But she begins to have mixed feelings about Georgie based on a gift he gives to her. Digging a little deeper, Booky begins to understand both the good and bad of Georgie.

The Thomsons, like many families, have hit hard times as Thomas can't find steady work. Fifteen year old Booky takes the family situation in stride, being matter-of-fact about being poor. Beyond her loving family, there are some things about her life she likes, such as being the president of her local Deanna Durbin fan club, and going out with a boy named Lorne.

Booky does everything she can to make an enjoyable Christmas, for her family, during the depression as her father is out of work.

Harry Raymond, Canada's ambassador in Moscow, and his wife Marianne, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's-related dementia, are summoned back to Ottawa by Michael Riordan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, where Raymond is interrogated by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers Daniel Jackman and Greg Mahavolitch, and defended by his lawyer daughter Diana Marsden. Riordan is planning to run for the leadership of his political party following the recent announcement that incumbent Prime Minister Prescott is stepping down due to poor health; both he and his wife Juliet are anxious to avoid any taint of scandal that may ruin his path to the Prime Ministership, but the investigation takes a turn when Raymond reveals both that he is gay and that he knows the secrets that may bring Riordan's career down as well.