All the Devils Are Here

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (2020) 439 pages

In this book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series, Armand and his wife Reine-Marie have gone to Paris to visit with both of their children and their families as they await the birth of their daughter Annie's child. Armand's godfather, Stephen Horowitz, a elderly billionaire, joins them in Paris, too. After a family dinner in a restaurant, as they walk back to where they're staying, Stephen is hit by a van, which zooms away. The family feels sure that the attack was targeted, but the police in Paris are quite skeptical of Armand, who they view as merely a country bumpkin from Canada.

As Armand, his wife, and their son-in-law Jean-Guy (who is now working at an engineering firm in Paris, having left the danger of police work in Montreal) investigate the hit-and-run, while visiting Stephen (who remains hospitalized on life support), the mystery deepens. Stephen's own background seems somewhat questionable. And Armand's strained relationship with his son Daniel is also visited, as is the friendship of Armand with Claude Dussault, the Prefect of the Paris police. In this story, it's imperative to know who's on what side, and that's impossible to know!

A Better Man

 

A Better Man by Louise Penny (2019) 437 pages

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir are working together, along with Isabelle Lacoste, on what will be Beauvoir's last case before he and his family move to Paris. A colleague alerts them to a friend's distress at his daughter's disappearance. The daughter, Vivienne, is married to a man, Carl Tracey, who abuses her, and her father is completely agitated. Meanwhile, the winter is turning to spring, and the rain and melting snow are overloading the rivers. Canadians are facing catastrophic flooding, including at Three Pines, the village where Gamache and his wife live, which is also near where Vivienne and her husband live. There's also a large amount of politicking going on, because the risks involved with mitigating the flooding could cause other disasters, and no one wants to be blamed.

When Vivienne's body is found in the aftermath of flooding, all signs point to her husband's actions causing her fall from a bridge. But will he be released on a technicality (or two)? The investigative team is working at a frenzied pace to tighten the case.

This is probably my favorite mystery series when I'm ready for a meaty read, and it did not disappoint.

Kingdom of the Blind

 

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny (2018) 389 pages

Louise Penny assembles her cast of characters with her usual care, bringing another episode to the Inspector Gamache series. There's way too much to relate, but the larger events include the fact that Armand Gamache is under suspension for a previous investigation that had no possible perfect outcome. Because of the choices he had to make, now there's great concern that a super-dangerous new fentanyl-type drug will be hitting the streets anytime now, and although he is suspended, some of his people are still working with him to try to stop its distribution. A cadet from the police academy who has already been given extra chances has been dismissed for drug use, and she quickly descends to her former life on Montreal's inner city streets. We see a bleak life for drug addicts and prostitutes, even without the newest drug available yet. Meanwhile, Gamache and two others, including Myrna, the psychologist who now runs a bookstore in the village of Three Pines, learn that they were chosen to liquidate the estate of a woman who worked as a housecleaner, but who called herself a Baroness. Was she actually a Baroness, or was she delusional? One of the other estate liquidators, a young builder/handyman named Benedict, seems sweet (and in fact, saved the others when they were in a building that collapsed), but they still can't really trust him completely. Their job grows more difficult with a related death that just might be a murder. 

Penny does not disappoint me as she weaves the tale, keeping me on edge‒and loving the characters‒until the final page.

Glass Houses

Glass Houses by Louise Penny (2017) 391 pages

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.

The Nature of the Beast

The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny (2015) 376 pages

Laurent is an energetically imaginative child who has worn out the villagers of Three Pines with his constant stories about what he has found, so they basically ignore the nine-year-old when he runs into the bistro shouting about a huge gun with a monster on it. When the child goes missing and is later found dead the next day, it is thought be be an accident alongside the road. When a search in the woods results in an amazing discovery of weaponry from decades prior, all kinds of questions arise, including: Is this why Laurent is dead? Does the discovery continue to present a danger?

Because a mystery with Armand Gamache is never just one mystery, we also learn about a play that is about to be performed in the village, a play that the director found in her uncle's belongings after his death. In spite of the humor within the script, there is a dark story behind it.

Although Armand Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie retired when they moved to the village, Gamache is very much involved in learning what is going on. Working with Isabelle Lacoste, the new head of homicide for the Sȗreté du Québec, and Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Gamache's former second-in-command, a gut-wrenching decision needs to be made in order to prevent grave horror. 

The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny (2014) 373 pages

In this tenth book in the Inspector Gamache series, Armand Gamache and his wife, Reine-Marie, have retired and moved to Three Pines, a small village in Canada, an hour or two outside Montreal. Gamache is still fighting the demons that led to his retirement, both physical and mental.

A year prior to the events in this story, Clara, an artist who was finally recognized for her work at age 50, sent away her husband, Peter. It was apparent that Peter was jealous of his wife's newfound success. They had agreed that he would return in exactly one year and they would meet and decide if they still had a future together. However, it's now a year later and he has not shown up. Clara finally asks Gamache to help her find Peter. Gamache and his former second-in-commend, Beauvoir, work together to find the pieces of Peter's journey over the past year, and with Clara making the decisions, they set out to find him, traveling up the St. Lawrence River via car, airplane and boat. Clara does not know if her relationship with Peter can be saved, but she feels that she will know when she sees him. As they close in on finding him, they begin to realize that there has been a crime and the journey takes on urgency.

As always, Penny develops her characters fully; I feel as if I know these people. The dialogue is true, and the meshing of the people–and sometimes the annoyances they have with each other–are real.

Bury Your Dead

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny (2010) 371 pages

Chief Inspector Gamache and his second-in-command, Inspector Beauvoir, are each recovering from near-fatal injuries from a rescue mission to save one of their officers who was taken hostage. The story of the hostage situation is handled via  flashbacks. Gamache is trying to deal with the psychological fallout from the rescue mission while visiting his mentor, Emile Comeau, now retired and living in Quebec City. Gamache is drawn into helping as a civilian on a murder case there. Meanwhile, Inspector Beauvoir, at Gamache's request, is in the village of Three Pines, reconsidering the murder case that ended with the conviction of Olivier Brulé, the owner of the Bistro.

This story reverberates in subsequent Penny books, and is the reason I decided to read the series in order (even though the books can each be read as stand-alones). Penny captures the reasoning and the emotions of those involved in these cases, and draws the reader into some of Quebec City's history from the time of Samuel de Champlain in the 17th century and the continuing struggles between those of French and English descent that continue to the present day.

The Brutal Telling

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (2009) 372 pages

A hermit living in a simple log cabin in the Canadian woods near the village of Three Pines is visited regularly by Olivier Brulé, who runs the local bistro. When the hermit ends up dead, found in Olivier's bistro, no one else knows who he was, and Olivier doesn't tell anyone that he knew the man. This is just the start of the lies and secrets that Chief Inspector Gamache and his team need to work through to solve this murder. They learn that the man hadn't been killed in the bistro. When they finally find the crime scene, they discover that the hermit had been using priceless crystal and china for his meals, he played a valuable violin, he read books that were valuable first editions, and he'd stuffed money in the cracks between the logs to keep out drafts. Where did he get his money and treasures? Some intriguing carvings depicting people on a journey, made by the hermit, tell parts of a story that sends Gamache on a journey to the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia to learn more about totem poles and cabin-building.

There is much acrimony between Olivier and a married couple who have moved to Three Pines to open a hotel/spa. Chief Inspector Gamache delves into whether their ill-will somehow factors into the murder.

As always in the village of Three Pines, there are additional storylines that add fullness to Penny's work, including ones with Clara, a middle-aged artist ready for her break-out moment and crotchety old Ruth, a renowned poet with a horrible attitude. The Brutal Telling is the 5th book in this series.

A Rule Against Murder

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny (2008) 322 pages

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie celebrate each wedding anniversary by staying at an isolated Canadian resort called Manoir Bellechase. This time while they're there, another family is staying there as well, having a reunion of sorts, although the family members don't seem to like one another very much. The old mother is there with her second husband and her four adult children, ready to unveil a statue of her first husband, which will be permanently installed on the grounds of the resort. The statue is huge and the man's eyes are sorrowful. Sometime during the night after the statue is unveiled, one of the daughters, Julie, is crushed by the statue. This was not an accident. The question is not only who would have murdered her (suspects in her own family are plentiful), but how did the murderer manage to make the statue topple, something so large that a crane was needed to set it into place on its base.

While his team investigates all the details of the family and the staff at the resort, Chief Inspector Gamache spends his time listening carefully to the people involved, looking for the grievances and hurts that grow over time until they can turn into the making of a murderer. This is particularly difficult for him to learn with a family so divided and antagonistic that it doesn't seem that they are as interested in finding the murderer as in continuing their blame games from childhood and keeping their secrets unshared.

A Rule Against Murder is the 4th book in this series.

The Cruelest Month

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (2007) 311 pages

In this third book in Penny's Inspector Gamache series, Madeleine Farreau, a woman that seems well-loved in the small village of Three Pines, dies during a seance in the very spooky Hadley house. When Inspector Gamache comes onto the scene, he has a good handful of suspects who had been at the seance, including a psychic and Tarot card reader, Jeanne Chauvet. Did Madeleine really die of fright or was her death a murder?

Meanwhile, while he works on the case, several different newspapers publish misleading information about him and his family, smearing their reputations. He thinks it's because of the work he'd done in the not-so-distant past, ousting some corrupt officials from the Sûreté du Québec. But if all the corrupt officials have been jailed, who is planting these outrageous stories in the media? Gamache has his own mystery to deal with as he explores Madeleine's death.

A Fatal Grace

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (2006) 313 pages

CC de Poitiers was a difficult woman, constantly berating her husband, lover and young daughter. It wasn't that surprising that she was murdered, but the circumstances were: She was electrocuted during a curling event on a frozen lake on an especially bitter day, in the view of many people. A number of factors had to be right for the electrocution to happen: the murdered woman had to have bare hands on a frigid Canadian morning, while wearing boots with metal cleats on them while touching a metal chair that the current was sent through. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, while employing his team to get all the evidence and learn all they can about the dead woman, spends time getting to know all he can about the people who knew CC, confident that if he can get people to talk in an informal setting, he can learn who had reason to murder her. Author Penny never gives us just one case, though. Woven within the story is Gamache's interest in another case that later appears to be connected: a homeless woman whose name is not even fully known (just "L") who was murdered outside a store in Montreal.

This is the second book in this series.

How the Light Gets In

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny (2013) 405 pages

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of homicide, is handling two very different cases: First, he's called by a friend in the tiny village of Three Pines, to talk about someone who was due to visit for Christmas, but who never showed up. This person was the last surviving quintuplet born to a Canadian family in the 1930s, who was doing everything she could to protect her privacy. What happened to her? Gamache's other case is of extreme importance: he's working to gain enough evidence to bring down the corruption in his very own office, the Sûreté of Québec, before it brings him down and does so much worse. Meanwhile, Gamache's beloved former right hand man, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, is under the thumb of the Chief Superintendent Francoeur, and Jean-Guy sees Gamache as his enemy.

I read with rapt attention; the book refused to let go when I wasn't reading. Louise Penny remains my favorite mystery writer!

The Beautiful Mystery

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny (2012) 373 pages


A murder takes place in a remote fortress-like monastery housing 24 monks. There is no doubt that one of the monks is responsible for the murder of the monastery's prior. The prior was the monk who led the others in their most amazing chants, which had been recorded and sold to finance extensive repairs in the very old establishment. The chants were received with acclaim; there is something about the way this particular group of monks chants that is quite overwhelming. Chief Inspector Gamache finds a split in the thinking among the monks over whether they should continue to record their chants or whether they should stick with their quiet life of work, prayer and chants, and he and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir wonder if this difference in thinking was the root cause of the murder.

Meanwhile, the story delves back into a horrible time in the past year when the chief inspector and many of his men were killed and injured in a warehouse, and the long-term ramifications from that, in addition to the corruption high up in the Surete du Quebec. The storyline had me feeling the highs of the chants, as well as the desolation of the investigators as they deal with their personal demons.

Louise Penny remains my favorite mystery writer. I have not been reading the series in order, and although it would make for better continuity if I did so, seeing the past and future in different order lends a perspective that works for me.

Still Life

Still Life by Louise Penny (2005) 312 pages

This is where it all starts, where Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series takes fire. In the tiny Canadian village of Three Pines, a beloved retired school teacher, Miss Jane Neal, is found dead in the woods, shot by an arrow. Was it an accidental shooting in bow season or was it murder? Gamache and his agents come to investigate. A villager, Matthew Croft, is quite helpful about types of bows and arrows and arrow tips during a town meeting that Gamache holds early on, and thus Gamache can't believe it when evidence makes it appear that Croft might be responsible for Jane's death. Meanwhile, we learn that Jane, who had been so secretive about her paintings that she wouldn't let her friends near them, had just submitted a painting to an art show a few days before her death. Jane also never let her friends into her home, except for her kitchen, but then said she was planning to entertain them in her living room after the art show opened. Why the change? What is the mystery about her artwork?

As usual, Penny's work is so layered, feels so true-to-life, that I want to move to Three Pines and spend time in the Bistro and the bookstore with these characters.

A Great Reckoning

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny (2016) 389 pages

Armand Gamache, former head of homicide for the Surete du Quebec, has taken a new job - to rout out the corruption in the police academy, which has been turning out graduates who are very often unethical, even brutal.

In spite of Gamache's firing of half the instructors, the culture of the police academy hasn't yet improved, and four months later, an instructor that Gamache was trying to find evidence against is found murdered. Inspector Isabelle Lacoste, a protege of Gamache, is joined by an outside independent investigator, Paul Gelinas. The details dredged up, sometimes from decades prior, are painful and make several people appear guilty of the murder, including Gamache. A warrant is imminent.

The cast of characters, both from Gamache's work life and from his home life in the tiny village of Three Pines, bring me next to the conversation and action. I can't say enough about Penny's writing: I am pulled into the story as a very involved character, holding my breath until the end.

A Trick of the Light

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny (2011) 339 pages

Another author and series new to me are Louise Penny and her 7th installment in the Chief Inspector Gamache mystery series. (Apparently I never start with the first book in a series.) Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team investigate the murder of a woman found in the garden of Clara Morrow, a woman who'd just celebrated her first art show just shy of age 50. Three Pines, a small Canadian village, has a variety of residents and visitors who came to the party at Clara's home after her art show opening, which provides an ample number of suspects. It turns out that the murdered woman, Lillian, had been best friend to Clara in her youth, until Lillian's jealousy over Clara's artistic skills had turned toxic. The murder investigation is in itself fascinating. However, a backstory into a traumatic event in the not-so-long-ago past of Inspector Gamache and his second-in-command, Jean Guy Beauvoir, is also compelling. The character development rings so true. Penny's writing style forced me to slow down just a bit in order to appreciate her craft: those numerous times when a turn-of-phrase makes me wish I had such skills. A perfect read on a cold winter day...