The Motives Of Murder In Louise Penny's Still Life

While Louise Penny’s Still Life is a modern detective story, a “cozy” narrative with contemporary references and characters, it also contains the misogyny that is present in earlier detective novels. Still Life, set in the small Canadian village of Three Pines, investigates the murder of one of the townswomen, Jane Neil. The murderer is revealed to be Ben Hadley, a native of Three Pines and friend of Jane Neil. The murder in Penny’s Still Life reflects violence against women in the way that Ben Hadley inflicts physical and psychological violence onto women. Ben inflicts violence onto three women in the novel—his mother, Jane, and Clara. While the novel begins after the death of Ben’s mother, Timmer, his involvement in her murder plays an important role in how he chooses to later kill Jane and attempt to murder Clara.

Jane is murdered by a hunting arrow, dying in a manner that resembles an animal preyed upon by a hunter. Although Ben chooses this method of murder in order to avoid suspicion, Ben reveals clues into his motives that help the reader understand his motives before he is convicted. He tells the town the difference between a hunting arrow and a more modern target arrow. He says “The arrows are different. You’d have to be amazingly lucky, or unlucky, I guess, to kill with a target shooting arrow…a target-shooting arrow has a very small head, not unlike the tip of a bullet. But a hunter’s arrow, well, that’s different” (Penny 93). Ben had clear intent to kill Jane and therefore, took every precaution necessary to ensure her death. Rather than using the more common, yet more difficult, target-shooting arrow, he deliberately chooses the weapon that will be sure to kill