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.
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