I enjoy the Inspector Gamache series, and this was a fairly good read.
I liked the description and setting in Paris.
Some things were very far fetched, particularly the action scene and ending (completely unrealistic), but I was able to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it overall.
Definitely not my favourite and a bit odd in places.

A 3.5 read, rounded up to 4 stars

The plot of this book is quite convoluted but it did keep my interest to the end. The Gamache family arrive in Paris looking forward to a family get together and the impending birth of another family member. They could never have dreamt what was going to happen and what secrets and lies they would discover.

I understand this is a series of books by Louise Penny but I read it as a stand alone and didn't feel as if it was a problem.

More gripping output from Louise Penny in a change of setting, which can only inexorably lead back to resolution in three pines.

“𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦” is a quotation from Shakespeare’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘵.
This is #16 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series, where the location switches from Quebec to Paris, the City of Lights. However Gamache & his family are soon surrounded by darkness as they realise the devils are everywhere & no-one can be trusted.

Gamache & his wife Reine-Marie are in Paris, awaiting the birth of their 4th grandchild. While returning home from a family dinner, Gamache’s elderly Godfather, billionaire Stephen Horowitz, is knocked down & seriously injured in a hit-and-run incident. Gamache is convinced this was no accident & asks his friend & Chief of Police, Claude Dussault, to investigate. A dead body in Stephens ransacked apartment leads to the unravelling of a brilliantly, complex plot involving the worlds of engineering & finance.

Gamache’s family are central characters in this novel, especially his son Daniel. Fans of this series will already know that Gamache & Daniel have a fraught relationship, for reasons unknown. The novel explores this schism & explains its origins. It’s also a poignant study of the father-son dynamic.

I absolutely loved this book. I was initially concerned about the move from the Québécois village of Three Pines & the motley crew of idiosyncratic residents, but Paris itself becomes a character in the book as the reader is led though it’s streets & 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴.

Family, loyalty & honesty are at the core of this novel. Gamache epitomises the humanity and fragility of the human spirit, but ultimately that good conquers evil, that love is all that matters

I am very emotionally attached to these books so am slightly biased. Nonetheless this is possibly the strongest book in the series. A labyrinthine plot, wonderful characters with depth & the revelation in the final chapter which brought tears to my eyes - Such is the power of this novel. Just brilliant!

Thanks to @Netgalley & @hodderstoughton for this ARC in return for my honest review.

I found myself somewhat confused when I started reading this book, however it soon became apparent that the confusion was due to this being the 16th book in a long established series.
Although I had obviously missed vital points throughout the series, I could still appreciate the writers unique way with words and the brilliant way in which she brings the characters to life with layered personalities.

There’s only one feeling that beats reading a really great book - finding a great book that’s part of a long series and knowing you have a long back catalogue to read! That’s how I feel with this author, I’ve never read her before, but really enjoyed this combination of crime thriller with a wonderful backdrop of Paris. Armand Gamache, of the Surete de Quebec, is visiting Paris to see family. Armand and his wife are visiting their children’s families and their daughter Annie is pregnant with their grandchild. In this book, the danger will be closer to Armani’s family than he would ever want. After a family dinner, Armand’s year old godfather Stephen is deliberately hit by a car and his life is left hanging in the balance. Armand calls the Paris police chief and the investigation is handed to his second in command Irena Fontaine, but they find a body in Stephen’s apartment. Armand starts to wonder whether the police can be trusted, so starts to investigate himself, alongside old colleague Jean- Guy. I enjoyed how the story unfolded and became more complex - all the time spiralling back towards Armand’s own family. What I enjoyed most was the setting - normally set in a village, this move to Paris brings excitement and interest to the novel, the backdrop of beautiful landmarks, adding in the recently fire struck Notre-Dame Cathedral. Despite being dropped into a new environment this is about family bonds - including strained relationships between Daniel and Armand, I did suffer from coming so late to the series, but I will be going back to the beginning at book one and learn about these interesting characters from the start.

I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. Thank you for the opportunity.
An intriguing and engaging mystery. This book has plenty of twists and turns, partnered with great writing.
However, it felt stale at times and like it needed more pep.
On the whole, a good book.

This was an ARC via NetGalley and the publishers, in return for an unbiased review. I do love the Gamache series, and this was set in Paris - Armand and Reine-Marie have gone to Paris to see Daniel and his family, and Jean-Guy/Annie, who've just moved there ahead of the birth of their second child, where Jean-Guy's starting a new (non-police) job. Stephen, who helped raised Armand after his parents died, has come along - and is hit by a van after they all have a meal together. Armand is convinced it was deliberate, and so begins an intricate and tense investigation where they don't know who in the police or Jean-Guy's company is good or bad, trying to cover up an engineering problem that would see catastrophic failures of many structures which have a material in, which is sensitive to extreme heat or cold. At times it felt a little "Da Vinci Code"esque, but it was engrossing, intricate plotting, and lovely to see more of Armand's historym as well as Daniel (an often overlooked character). Given they all move back to Quebec at the end, I hope we'll see more of the Armand/Daniel relationship going forward. More please!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an arc of this book.

unfortunately i was really confused as i found out this was a 16th book in ther series and havent read the other 15 so i was really confused about whom everyone was and what was happened thereforth i did read it all and it was well written, structured but obviously didnt make sense to me as i havent read the others but great book overall

3 stars⭐⭐⭐

Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir and Annie now all live in Paris. Beauvoir is working for an engineering firm, hired because of his investigating background to make sure the firm’s projects flowed smoothly with no hidden illegalities or illegitimate influences corrupting the well-intentioned outcomes of the increasingly busy company. This has raised some problems with people within the company who felt the job should have gone to an engineer rather than an former police investigator. Armand’s godfather was a well connected rich entrepreneur who had looked after Armand when he was very young. After a restaurant meal with the family he was run down, apparently deliberately, in a hit and run with a stolen delivery van and Gamache and Beauvoir struggle to determine the motive for the attempted assassination and the connections with Armand’s godfather’s business dealings. Amazing twists and turns complicate a solution that Armand struggles to discover. This is an amazing, complex, and complicated plot and I highly recommend this book.

It's the 1st book from Louise Penny that I've read in a while and she didn't disappoint!
The style of writing flows beautifully and for me who is a visual reader, it felt like I was there in Paris alongside with Armand trying to figure out who tried to kill his beloved godfather and what the motives were behind this deliberate hit and run.

It is amazing to think this is already the 16th novel in the series. It is a story full of drama and intrigue that I can highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown book group UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Another great mystery from Penny! I love this series and her writing. There's a literary quality to it still delivering a great mystery. One that's hard to find.
Thanks so much to the publisher and NG for this copy.

I discovered this series last year and had a glorious month galloping through the back catalogue. I was really excited for this latest installment and it did not disappoint. The story is completely lifted out of Quebeq to Paris but didn't lose any of its charm as the main characters are still fully engaged. This means it should work well as a standalone / introduction to the series. I did miss Ruth and her duck though the almost visual descriptions of various Parisian landmarks more than recompensed. Be prepared to not be able to put this book down for most of the plot (and to have an urge to book a trip to Paris) as Arnaud and the family are in deep and increasing peril throughout.

“Here” is Paris. As this is the latest Armand Gamache novel some of the “devils” will be the heritage and failures of his life that travel with him. But luckily for the outcome so do the friendships, love and loyalty he has built over the years. Nominally he and his wife Reine-Marie are in Paris for the birth of their daughter Annie’s second child. Her husband Jean-Guy Beauvoir has transferred out of the Canadian police and is working as a new manager for a large international engineering company GHS. Why they have selected him – a non engineer – is a mystery to him that will be unrolled as the story progresses. Son Daniel lives in Paris with his wife and two daughters and has recently moved to a new job as a senior financial advisor. Readers of this series will understand that there is a great deal of back history that will be carried forward – and more will be added throughout this tale.
The family will be gathering for a seasonal meal. Another guest will be Stephen Horowitz, now in his 90s who is Armand’s godfather and who helped raise him after the early death of his parents. Paris is one of Stephen’s homes and Armand has spent plenty of time here and love for the City will show through this book. It is entirely contemporary with the aftermath of the fire at Notre Dame. Always in these novels is the underlying theme of crime versus values of people, of community, of heritage and how they are protected; and the quiet links between people that may have been laid down and can be relied upon in difficulties. After the meal Stephen will be deliberately run down. He will lie throughout this novel on life support. Why was he attacked in this way? And who is the man killed in his flat earlier in the evening. Armand will want to find who did these things and why – but the crime is under the jurisdiction of the Paris police and a colleague Dussault of the Prefecture.
Amidst the uncertainty of why and who a potential web of corruption is revealed – a corruption that spreads throughout Jean-Guy’s company and into the French police itself. In a situation where it is not safe to trust any except your very closest the plot has to be unravelled at speed and in a scenario of increasing violence. Armand’s key aim is to keep his family safe at the time when they are being used as potential targets to bring him to heel. His son Daniel has had a difficult relationship with his father and that plays into the mix too. Stephen’s background becomes and an issue – born in Germany, he worked with the French resistance during World War Two, but allegations that he was a collaborator are being circulated. Is this relevant t the investigation? A key facet of Paris’s war history was the daily risk to the Jews and the scale of the losses, so the backdrop to this contemporary tale is of deep history, with the personal bleeding into international and impacting into the present, private things about Armand’s family are revealed.
Without giving the plot away, the underlying “corruption/crime” is gradually unravelled to the readers, with multi-national trade and businesses that largely operate without control. The book explores how company wealth will allow it to buy reputation, political support and immunity. Plus how a “simple” misbehaviour can escalate into a massive global risk largely without people even of power becoming aware of it. Regrettably too, how early smaller warnings of risk can be overlooked, misinterpreted or hidden. Not a comfortable thought.
So this is another deeply moral Gamache novel, referring to himself, his family but also colleagues and friends in Canada. But one that focuses in a wider way on people and how we treat them. But it talks to the real world too and how small actions by a person can build to greater things for good. Life is a series of choices. The crime aspect (that seems eerily possible) is of course dispiriting, but the picture of Paris – and Penny’s admiration of the City is evident - makes for a wonderful dimension to this read.

I had read one other book in this series before and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I love the way Louise Penny writes and this interested me more because it was set in Paris. Inspector Gamache never rushes to conclusions and I love how the plot slowly unfurls. Here, Inspector Gamache's Godfather Stephen is the victim of a hit and run and it seems he had secrets which are slowly revealed. I love the characters in these books, so well rounded and the story holds your interest. Another success for Louise Penny I think.

Inspector Armand Gamache and his family are in Paris visiting Armand's godfather, Stephen. When Stephen suffers a terrible accident, Armand investigates. He is plunged into a murder mystery which spans generations and touches the Resistance during the Second World War and Stephen's part in this.

Daniel, Armand's adult son, and Beauvoir, Armand's second in command, play wonderful and very different roles in the story. Armand's wife also has an important role.

We have a complex plot and wonderful dynamics between the characters as, once again, Armand is faced with the treachery of an ally.

There are some great and atmospheric descriptions of Paris and Paris monuments and museums which added to the enjoyment.

I loved every word and was sorry when the book ended. Highly recommended and, in my view, can be read as a stand-alone.

I hadn’t previously read any Gamache books but starting with this one made me want to read more. I enjoyed the historical elements about nazi occupation and french resistance. The story was interesting, and also that it was so closely linked to Gamache’s family. I imagine other stories are not so centred on Gamache’s family. Overall I enjoyed the story but felt the pacing of the book was quite slow. It seemed to me that if the book was shorter the story would have been more exciting and better paced.

I love this series and I think that Louise Penny is a master storyteller. This book isn't amongst my favorite as I found it a bit too slow and I missed the 3P setting.
It's an enjoyable story, i liked it but it took a long time to feel involved and sometimes I struggled with the plot even if it's quite well developed.
Not my favorite but a good book that I recommend.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I was really looking forward to reading this and some of my fellow bloggers had given me glowing praise for the author but it didn’t quite hit the mark with me.

I was aware it was part of a long running series and it could be read as a stand alone. For me though it took ages to kick in and by that time I was losing enjoyment of the story. By the sounds of it I think the characters may have been better in their previous Canadian setting.

However I did like the setting, Paris is always a joy to read about and the author has done a wonderful job bringing the city to life in the book.

I think I’ll go back and read the first book in the series and see how I get on with it and how the characters flesh out from there.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Brilliant! I admit to being a little biased, because this is one of my all-time favourite series and I've loved the previous 15 instalments, but as this one doesn't take place in Three Pines, I was a bit afraid I wouldn't like it so much. I needn't have worried!

It was interesting to get to know the other members of the Gamache family better, and the plot was nicely twisted and imaginative as always. Of course, Armand is such a lovable, humane man, it's always a pleasure to accompany him in his investigations, whether in Three Pines, Montreal or Paris.