You don’t know what emotion to feel next when reading this story. You are taken through every emotion possible not unlike the main characters. Do you follow the crowd just because it’s a professional person leading you? C I Armand Gamache and his team are given security at a University lecture by Professor Abigail Robinson about statistics. Why? The lecture becomes more dangerous than anyone thought and when the main participants join up in Three Pines for a New Years Eve party murder follows. The main residents of Armand’s home Three Pines are out in force but all will pitch in with their own views to Professor Abigail Robinson’s ideas. Armand usually a steady pair of hands to root out the murderer is hampered by his own personal opinions of the protagonist in this book. Part of a long running series which are well worth visiting for fleshing out our Three Pines characters. I found it difficult to put this book down even with a difficult subject matter. It will be as difficult to wait for your next visit to 3 Pines.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Well we're back in 3 Pines but suddenly with a much bigger hinterland. The rather mannered local characters don't dominate thank goodness apart from the f***ing duck and its owner who are far too ubiquitous. And Ms Penney seems overly fond of her Asshole Saint name if not the man.
The plot is still rather preposterous and involves a post COVID reaction that I simply find unbelievable, although I also thought the same about Quebec care home story, but apparently it happened. I know that the UK doesn't have a great record like some other countries in emptying our hospitals into care homes without testing, but simply abandoning the residents is on a whole other level. I am starting to wonder if Canada is quite the nice place we have been led to believe...
Gamache is also acting out of character with 2 spells of angry though controlled reaction - maybe that is the author responding to some of comments about his saintliness in the previous book.
There are some interesting conflicting ideas in the book, but maybe I am not ready for a book with COVID at its heart yet.

What to say about this book - about the whole Inspector Gamache series? To say I was bereft when the book ended would be a true understatement, it was such a joy to be back in the company of Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy, Isabelle, and their families and friends in Three Pines. As always, the plot was thoughtful, sensitive and tackled big issues without ever becoming ‘preachy’. I don’t know how Louise Penny does it, but this new book is every bit as brilliant all the others. If you are new to her writing this book will stand perfectly well on its own, but do start with the first and read through the series to fully appreciate the wonderful characters, plots and descriptions of Three Pines, the small village in Quebec. I can imagine this series being turned into superb films, but really hope it’s not as the writing is so superb that the reader will see the characters and settings in their minds, and that is why reading is such a great joy, and these books such a huge pleasure.

This book is set in a small village just outside of Montreal post Covid.
The chief of the Homicide Surete lives there and become involved in an almost murder attempt..
This is a real murder mystery. A who done it as good as any Agatha Christy.
Twists and turns until the very end.
Well worth a read.

This is the first Gamache novel I've read, but it won't be the last. Although obviously part of a series, it can also be a 'stand-alone' so it doesn't matter if you haven't read any others.

It is set now, post pandemic, but there is still that sense of 'new normal', things not being quite the same, but also an underlying sense of unease. All the characters, even ones that only appear fleetingly, are rounded, and not stereotypical. It even raises questions to the reader about ethics, how we treat or judge others. A fulfilling read.

Highly recommended.

With thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC.

This is a marvellously intriguing and enthralling book. It is set post Covid so that experience is referenced at stages during the book without being overly heavily mentioned, but this gives poignancy to the thesis being expounded by the statistician which backdrops what is also a murder mystery investigation. There are multiple layers to this book and all of the characters are so well written about that it is not difficult to actually form mental pictures of them. I was kept guessing for almost all of the book as to the outcome as it twisted and turned and I can only say I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This is without doubt my favourite series; the ones set in Three Pines particularly as this one is. All the familiar characters are here for those who have read previous books (although not essential). It is set post Pandemic with life returned to a new normal. Unsurprisingly it is dark and the subject both pertinent and controversial but there are also touches of hope and continuity. It starts with a Statistics lecture and evolves into a plot covering past and present with a current murder to solve and older deaths which may or may not be murder, not revealed until the end. L.P’s writing is beautiful and measured, every word is in the right place, a master storyteller. It is a book I shall return to, and that happens rarely.
Thanks to Hodder&Stoughton and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review and this is my own opinion.

My first book but this author sand what a subject. Like a lot of people I'm sick of Covid and anything to do with it, but this book poses an interesting situation and ideology. No spoilers. It perfectly conveys the feeling of a Canadian winter and the dangers of mob behaviour.

I would give this book ten stars if I could. Louise Penny is one of my favourite authors, and this is one of my favourite books in the series. I love the residents of Three Pines, and how each novel tells you a little bit more about each of them, and moves their lives along. Louise Penny writes with such sensitivity and kindness, there is always more to think about than just the story itself. I really admire the way she has approached this particular book, and the time in which it is set., it is very hopeful at a difficult time.

A most enjoyable whodunnit from a writer I had not read before and whom I heard recently talking on World BBC Bookclub about her first novel (Still Life) and her latest (The Madness of Crowds). I was impressed by her world views and comments, and that is the reason I decided to read this book (and I will continue reading the series, now in order!).

The author has created a rather full, interesting world in Three Pines, a small village in Southern Quebec - the police, headed by Chief Inspector Gamache, his family, neighbours, the fabric of the village, its landscape... this is also a quirky, thinking community. I particularly enjoyed the combination of a straightforward mystery with compelling ideas (the way the author introduces ¨the issue¨ is real fun - you don't have it spelled out for a few chapters so making your own mind about its actuality) The central ideas are really serious and are explored in a rather deep yet entertaining manner. It has to do with the aftermath of Covid... in a tremendously apposite way, but not only! the value of life, the end-justifies-the-means ideologies, the weak and the strong... I do not want to give anything away, because it is such fun to go into the story blind! suffice it to say that the cast contains scientists, chancellors, Nobel-prize nominees, painters, poets... and a number of deaths... There were some longueurs to my taste towards the end, and one or two inverosimilitudes but they do not retract from an excellent, intelligent, entertainment.

I recommend it heartily! With many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley.

Ah, a new Louise Penny Inspector Gamache book - the feeling of coming home. With wonderful insights, a storyline which never lets up it’s pace, and some new truisms to ponder, the madness of crowds maintains pace and energy from start to finish. I adore these books. They are the crime version of Alexander McCall Smith’s Scotland St series. Read the series in order and get to know and love all the characters in three pines from the beginning. I envy new readers.

Sadly, I think I've reached the end of my relationship with this series: while we're back in Quebec and Three Pines after the last outing in Paris, characters are starting to feel like caricatures of who they once were. There are no new developments as people are wheeled on to do their thing: Clara paints, Ruth holds her duck, Gabri serves lemon meringue pie in the bistro but all the dynamism seems to have drained away, and they're like wooden figures stuck in predictable movements.

The big idea of a divisive public figure with abhorrent social views sets up an interesting premise but it all turns into a family soap opera with much melodrama. Even Jean-Guy spends most of the book collapsing in tears... I've loved this long-running series for the humour, the emotive writing, the eccentric cast of characters, and the over-arching story arc. Since the series plot was resolved some books back, the last couple of books have been floundering. I think I'll bow out now with the good memories intact.

Gamache and his family are back in Canada from France, and the pandemic is over, although Gamache will always have the memories of that horrific time. All the family are back in Three Pines for the holiday, and things are getting back to normal, with sledging, ice skating and hot chocolate at the Bistro.
Chief inspector Gamache is back in the Surete with Jean-Guy and Lacoste at his side, but he wonders why he has been asked by a local university in Quebec to provide security for a statistics lecture between Christmas and New Year, when he and everyone else should be spending time with their families..
When Gamache looks into Professor Abigail Robinson and her statistical analysis he tries to get the lecture cancelled. It goes ahead, but not without incident. When a woman is murdered within a few days of the lecture Gamache knows that there is something else going on.
Both support and derision for Professor Robinson comes from different quarters, and Gamache and his team have to dig deep to uncover what has been hidden for years, with some of ideas hitting very close to home.
Louise Penny has written empathetically about the pandemic and what will happen after it has been declared officially over.
It was good to be back in Three Pines and see the characters from there - along with a visitor from Sudan who is determined to be rude to everyone.
Another page-turner from Penny with twists and turns along the way. A great read!
Thanks to #NetGalley and @Hodderbooks for the chance to read this proof copy.

The latest Chief Inspector Gamache novel has been set post-pandemic, everything's looking up but it's not all as it was before. In the period between Christmas and New Year Gamache is called at short notice to provide security for a public meeting being held by a figure who has become controversial because of the conclusions she has drawn for how humanity should progress post-pandemic. Her views are highly controversial and the meeting ends in chaos with a botched assassination attempt. Many moral questions are raised.

There are a wealth of new characters in this book. We meet a young Sudanese woman who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but who is deeply scarred both physically and emotionally by her horrific life in the Sudan. We also have to come to grips with the evil works of Ewan Cameron, the controversial psychiatrist who decades before had used his patients as Guinea pigs for torture techniques and billed them for the privilege. Inevitably there is a murder but was the victim the intended target or was it a case of mistaken identity?

This is quite a dark read but very compelling. It's always good to be back in the company of Gamache.

A continuation of the long running series. The characters are as great as always. I liked how the pandemic was handled. I wish there was more of the three pines setting as always.

Thank you to the publishers and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have not read any of this author's books before so didn't know what to expect.
The author deals with pandemic by it being over, which is fine by me. Trying to successfully incorporate a pandemic into fiction novels is probably a very arduous task that authors would do well to avoid.
The book is well written, characters are fully fleshed and the subject very dark and also pertinent to todays politics (certainly in the UK) I don't know what her other books have been like and I'm wondering whether regular readers will enjoy this direction.
The author's comments that Abigail Robinson "was revealing, not creating, the anger. The fear" is absolutely spot on. "She was the catalyst. But the potential, the sickness, was already there" couldn't be more accurate if it tried. Given recent revelations about piling bodies high this book scarily echoes what is fast becoming perceived wisdom. You might need to be in a strong place when you read this but I recommend you do

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I have read this series of books from the beginning and loved every one. Not just the storylines but the characters in the books. The first few books were simple murder stories, but introduced us to all the various characters that would appear throughout all the books. As the series went on the stories got darker and more thought provoking but always there was the wonderful way Louise Penny blended everything together. You get to know all the various people and their lives even if they only appear in a few pages of the book. I still go back and read one of the chapter of the book before this All The Devils Are Here as there is something about that chapter that just holds the reader.
This book I found disturbing in some parts, frightening in others about what society could come to, but through all that it’s a book you can’t put down and need to reach the end. If anyone asked me my favourite author it would have to be Louise Penny, I follow lots of series of books but none have ever held me like these do or made me feel close to the characters of the book
Can’t wait for the next one.