Unfortunately, this book continued to focus on all of the various people out to get Gamache for no apparent reason and spent little time on the actual crime to be solved. I hoped it was an aberration, so moved on to A Better Man. Suddenly the ongoing conspiracies sucked up most of the plotline and the actual mystery to be solved slipped into the background, as did the characters. That changed with book 14, Kingdom of the Blind. While I was slightly frustrated by the ongoing conspiracy subplots, I could largely ignore it and focus on the primary mystery to be solved in each book and the characters. They always become predictable and repetitive or increasingly outlandish and unbelievable. I am usually burned out by the 5th or 6th book in most series. The fact that I lasted through 15 books in any series is a testament to the quality of the series. I loved many of the detailed plotlines of previous books and learned so much reading several of them. I think Armand Gamache is one of the truly great characters of modern literature and the characters who inhabit Three Pines fascinating. Such a fan, these books inspired me to visit Montreal and Quebec City.

I am a huge fan of Louise Penny and the Three Pines series. What would you do if your child’s killer walked free? In the next title in this 'constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves' ( New York Times Book Review), Gamache must face a horrific possibility, and a burning question. Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel., he resumes the search.Īs the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father.

In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter.Īs crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. Flood waters are rising across the province. It’s Gamache’s first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir.

'Robert Bathurst's intelligent narration captures every nuance, every emotion, and each of Louise Penny's subtle revelations about the unique, completely engaging residents of Three Pines.' ( AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner)Ĭatastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sûreté du Québec in the latest novel by number one New York Times best-selling author Louise Penny.

First gamache book