Three Pines

Best-selling author Louise Penny’s stories come to life with launch of the Three Pines series 

By Taylor McClure 
Townships’ Daily News Bits 
CIDI 99.1 FM 

Best-selling author and Townshipper Louise Penny is celebrating the upcoming launch of the Amazon Studio series Three Pines based on her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novel series. 

To highlight the launch, Theatre Lac-Brome and Amazon Studios held an event in Knowlton on Nov. 24 where attendees got a sneak peak at the first two episodes of the series.

The first two episodes will be officially released on Amazon Prime Video on Dec. 2 with two new episodes coming out weekly up until the season finale. 

Produced by London based production company Left Bank Pictures, the series has been years in the making. Now, Penny is bringing her stories and characters to life on the small screen. 

“It’s one of those moments in life where I just feel a jumble of emotions of being overwhelmed, happy, but also concerned because it’s not exactly the way I would have done it,” expressed Penny. “Also, they did such a great job. (…) Now I’m worried about what other people will think.”

Penny was approached a few years ago by Robert Bathurst, the voice behind her audio books and a British actor, who suggested pitching her novel series to Left Bank. 

“Then he got in touch and said they are interested, are you? Now I already had an adaptation of the first book done and it was not a happy experience so I was saying no to everybody” explained Penny. “But I was coming to the U.K. and I thought I’ll have lunch with Andy Harries, who runs Left Bank.”

Penny and Harries met over a period of two years to discuss the opportunity with Penny reluctant to take on the project. 

“And finally my agent said to me ‘you know, you do what you want, agree or don’t agree, I’ll support you in whatever you decide, but just think a little bit about it. If ever you want a T.V. adaptation, or any adaptation of your books, are you going to find a better production company than Left Bank?’ That really set me back,” she said. 

After years of discussion, she finally hopped on board. When taking on the project, Penny emphasized that there were three things she wanted Left Bank to get right: the character of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the character of Three Pines, the setting of the mystery novel series, and the scripts. 

Penny noted that all major decisions were passed by her; some which she agreed with and others that she struggled to grasp.

“The scripts were what I struggled with most. That was very, very, painful for everybody, for them and for me. Some of the elements I’m very happy with, some of the elements will surprise the audience in a good way, and some of the elements are incredibly disappointing,” she mentioned. “Overall, I wouldn’t be promoting the series if I didn’t feel overall that this is series to be proud of, and I am very proud of it.”

Left Bank found its Chief Inspector Armand Gamache in actor Alfred Molina, whom Penny said was perfect for the role. 

“As soon as Andy Harries called and said Alfred Molina, I knew that we had a better than average chance to have something that wasn’t just good, but that was great. He is Gamache, he is the steady hand on the tiller, he’s everything I could have wanted in my main character, who really holds the thing together,” she said. 

There is a big miss with Three Pines, added Penny, they whiffed on that one for sure and that was a major disappointment. 

The series was filmed in St-Armand Quebec, but the village of Three Pines that Penny writes about her novels references more the Brome Lake and Sutton area. 

“The village of Three Pines would be unrecognizable to anyone who has read the books unfortunately. Now, having said that, they get a whole lot very right. Not just Gamache, but there was a brilliant story arc that isn’t mine,” noted Penny. 

After watching all eight episodes, Penny said she was relieved and overjoyed. 

“Overall, I am just overjoyed. The quality of it, the acting, all the things that they bring to it, the story lines. I think it’s going to be a huge hit and I’m excited, very excited,” she said. 

Listen to the full interview below: