The Sûreté du Québec of which Detective Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is the Head of Homicide has surprisingly been asked to provide crowd control for a lecture being given by Professor Abigail Robinson, a well-known statistician, at a small Québec university. It’s some time before we, the readers, find out the substance of this lecture.
As the professor is welcomed on stage, two shots ring out: the audience panics and rushes for the exits. The bullets miss the professor, and the gunman is disarmed and arrested.
A few days later with the gunman under lock and key, Professor Robinson is a guest at a New Year’s Eve Party in the village of Three Pines. Fans of the author will recall that this is where Gamache and his family live and people tend to get murdered there, quite regularly. Sure enough, soon after midnight a body is found. As Gamache is also at the party, the investigation into the death begins immediately. It’s quickly established as a murder and everyone at the party is a suspect.
The Chief Inspector takes us along step by step as he establishes the facts and discusses possible motives with his two trusted. Unfortunately, these discussions happen too often. Various motives are raised time and again as new material is unearthed. It becomes somewhat tiresome. A more aggressive edit was required before this book was published with the repetition discarded. The novel has 432 pages; a few paragraphs could easily have been left on the cutting-room floor.
The Madness of Crowds in the ‘Armand Gamache’ series is intriguing, thought-provoking and topical. It’s the journey that’s important in Penny’s novels not so much the destination.
Reviewed by Clive Hodges
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
2009 portrait of Louise Penny
I live outside a small village south of Montreal, quite close to the American border. My husband Michael and I have long had dogs, all golden retrievers. Bonnie, Maggie, Seamus, Trudy and now Bishop. Some came as puppies, some were adopted as adults. All beloved.
Michael and I were together for 22 years and married for 20. He was the inspiration for Armand Gamache. Kindly, thoughtful, generous, a man of courage and integrity, who both loved and accepted love.
He developed dementia, and died peacefully at home in September 2016, surrounded by the love he’d put into the world for his 83 years.
So now it’s Bishop and me. But we’re far from alone. We have the village, and all our friends including My Assistant Lise, and the indomitable, happy spirit of Michael. And, of course, the company of Armand, Clara, Ruth, Gabri and Olivier et al.
I came to writing later in life. I was well into my 40’s before STILL LIFE, the first ‘Gamache’ novel, was published. I am deeply aware of how lucky I am to be writing, and published, and enjoying success. And believe me, I am enjoying it. It would be such a shame not to appreciate such a gift.
Before being published I was a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. But Michael’s support allowed me to quit work to write.
He was not only the inspiration for the books, but he made them possible.
If you’d like to know more about our lives, and the life of the books, you can go to the archive of monthly newsletters.
I’m so glad you’ve discovered Three Pines. I’m so glad I did.
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