Armand Gamache is now the Chief Superintendent over the entire Sȗreté du Québec. This story opens at a murder trial at which Gamache is a witness. The murder occurred in Three Pines, a tiny village in which Gamache and his wife now live. A masked, black-robed figure had appeared in the village during a Halloween costume party at the bistro, and the silent figure continues to haunt the village green, disappearing at night and reappearing each morning. The villagers are quite spooked. The story alternates between this time in November and the trial the following summer. It's not even clear who was murdered or who is on trial. The acerbic prosecutor treats Gamache as if Gamache were the one on trial--why didn't Gamache take action to remove this robed person before the situation became a murder? Gamache's response that the robed person was not breaking the law didn't seem to suffice.
Meanwhile, we learn that in the year since Gamache had taken charge of the Sȗreté du Québec, the drug trafficking situation had gotten even worse than it had been already. The drug cartels were becoming quite bold. There was much criticism that Gamache, although he had a stellar career in routing out corruption in the Sȗreté itself, had gotten older and in over his head.
This novel, 13th in the series, unrolls tantalizingly, another fine example of the writing that keeps me coming back for more.
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