Amazon dropped a trailer for Three Pines, the upcoming series based on the mystery novels of Canadian author Louise Penny.

The show stars Alfred Molina as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, a police detective who investigates crimes in the small Quebec town of Three Pines. Gamache made his first appearance in Penny’s 2006 novel Still Life; 17 more books featuring the detective have followed, with the latest, A World of Curiosities, scheduled for publication next month.

The trailer opens with idyllic shots of the town, showing residents curling and dining in a café. In a voiceover, Molina as Gamache says, “This tiny, sleeping village, full of kind, compassionate people and two murders in one year.…evil leeched into the ground in Three Pines.”

It then takes a dark turn, with shots of a woman screaming, another woman lying bleeding under a fallen statue, and a pickup truck that’s been set on fire. “Secrets lead to lies,” Molina says. “The truth is in what we don’t see.”

Other cast members of the series include Marie-Josée Bélanger (Les Simone), Joshua Odjick (Unsettled), Max Laferriere (The Art of More), Patricia Summersett (Mother!), and newcomer Ali Hand.

Directing the show are Tracey Deer, Samuel Donovan, and Daniel Grou; the screenwriters are Emilia di Girolamo and Catherine Tregenna. Molina is among the series’ executive producers.

Three Pines will premiere in December on Amazon Prime Video.

Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.