With many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for offering this ARC in exchange of my honest review.
This is the 17th book in this series. Although, it has complex story lines but It's wonderful written and it's done very well. The characters are very interesting and well-developed to give thought provoking. Fast and intriguing plot with twists and turns at the ending. It would make you surprising and shocked. Definitely it's a tense, gripping and page-turning read. I really enjoyed this book. Surely recommended.

When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is asked to provide crowd control at a statistics lecture given at the University de l'Estrie in Quebec, he is dubious. Why ask the head of homicide to provide security for what sounds like a minor, even mundane lecture? What follows is a trail of twists and turns with a surprising ending.

This book grabbed me from the beginning. Abigail Robinson is about to give a controversial lecture and Gamache is asked to police it. You are kept waiting for a few chapters to find out what the controversy is. There is an incident at the lecture and, quite a bit later, a death. There are quite a few threads going on which could be the cause of the murder and you are kept guessing. As usual, I find some of the Three Pine residents a bit of a distraction but the central family and the suspects are interesting characters. This is the first book I’ve read which tackles post-lockdown issues. It’s perhaps still a bit early for that! That said, some of the long term human impact of COVID is touched on well. Many thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Whether you consistently read Louise Penny’s Gamache series or you came to this story alone, you know you’re in for a good read. As a standalone you won’t feel lost not knowing the lead character’s past, but I know you’ll be selecting a few from the series after finishing this excellent read.

The beginning of the book takes in one day’s actions over what first appears to be a large number of pages, but then as a reader, you realise you’ve bene taken in by the writer and they have you hook, line and sinker. You just have to turn to the next page.

Louise Penny helps you consider each potential murderer, but equally discounts most of them as you read. However, you know it must be one of them.. I didn’t guess, but then I suspected quite a few potential suspects, which isn't helpful, but then I'm not the detective here! The clues are all in there, but it’s only as you read through more of the book do you find out the real answers as to why and how.

Even though I received a free copy of this book, it doesn’t alter my review. This is a well thought through story, It gets so deep that you’ll know the characters back to front and even form a liking for those you should absolutely hate. If there are any in the previous books in this series that I’ve missed, I will go back quickly and correct that error of judgement.

Inspector Gamache from the Quebec police investigates the murder of Debbie Schneider, a friend of Professor Abigail Robinson, whose lectures advocate compulsory abortion of imperfect foetuses and compulsory euthanasia of elderly people with poor quality of life. A great mix of suspects from Professor Robinson herself to Haniya Daoud, damaged by the violence seen in her home country. This is the first Inspector Gamache book I’ve read. Will read the first in the series now!

I have read Louisa since she began but found the two prior to this one somewhat dull. Madness is superb. The theme of disposing of the elderly, infirm or imperfect foetus/child isn’t new. Orwell did it and Huxley but until now I’ve never seen these ideas in a murder mystery.
It is wonderfully written and very thought provoking. There’s a horrid logic to the ideas.

3 ½ stars really. I am joining this series at no. 17 and feel I may have got more out of it knowing the full background to these characters. I think one or two of the characters could have been completely removed from the story without any detriment to the plot. This book must have the longest 'unravelling' I have ever read. I longed for 'Gamache' to just gather everyone into a room after a good dinner à la Poirot, and announce 'who dunnit!' I am not even sure that I know now! Enjoyed this enough though, to go back and start at book no. 1 in the Gamache series. Louise Penny can certainly conjure up the weather, loved all the snow! Thanks to Netgalley.

The Ever Knowing Gamache...
Book seventeen in the long running Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series and a compelling entry addressing some very difficult and delicate themes when a seemingly mundane lecture becomes more dangerous than anyone could have thought possible. Ever suspenseful, clever sharp dialogue, a snappy and unpredictable plot, twists and turns aplenty and the ever empathetic, upstanding and knowing Inspector is the ideal protagonist. A worthy addition to this long running series - if you have read this series then you may have your favourites but each mystery is always hugely satisfying, stylishly written and never, ever disappoints.

The Madness Of Crowds was better than All The Devils Are Here, but that’s not saying much and I wasn’t keen on it.

Back in Three Pines (thank heavens!) Gamache is, implausibly, given the job of policing a talk by a very controversial academic. This leads to lots of moral dilemmas, violence and ultimately a death. He and his team/family then have to find the killer, which involves a lot of historical delving, some thoroughly unlikely coincidences and yet more moral soul-searching.

Frankly, I found much of it it pretty stodgy and not very well done – something I am surprised and very sorry to have to say about a Louise Penny novel. For example, she keeps the nature of the “shocking” views of the academic from us for so long at the start that it would be a significant spoiler to reveal them, even though all the characters know what they are and react strongly to them. This went on for so long that it became ridiculous and I eventually found it very annoying. I’m afraid I found her dealing with the moral issues clumsy throughout, with some very unsubtle moralising and a disappointingly underdeveloped study of one morally abhorrent but personally charming character and another who is morally noble but personally repellent. Needless to say, everyone learns Important Life Lessons in a conclusion which I found positively cloying.

Gamache is now so saintly that there is a distinct odour of sanctimony about him, the characters of Three Pines are reduced to a thin backdrop and there are some quite absurd scenes. I can just about live with the idea that two of Canada’s most renowned academics and a Sudanese contender for the Nobel Peace Prize would all be in a tiny, unknown village for New Year, but other things were too much. For example, Gamache and Jean Guy need to leave the house for some privacy for a difficult conversation...so they go to the bistro where the whole village can hear the argument. And so on.

Even this I could just about have coped with, I think, if it weren’t for Penny’s increasingly irritating prose style. She will insist on making a clause. Into a sentence. For no reason. And it made me cross. Very cross. Indeed. It’s a cheap trick which lesser writers use to try to heighten tension. Not only is Louise Penny better than this, she does it so much and often about such trivial things that it loses all impact, save making me mutter “For heavens sake” (I paraphrase) a lot.

I did read to the end, which is more than I can say for All The Devils, but I was quite glad when I’d finished the book, which is never a good sign. I’ve rounded 2.5 stars up to 3 out of respect for an author who has written some very good books, but I think I may have reached the end of the road with Louise Penny.

(My thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for en ARC via NetGalley.)

As a huge Louise Penny fan I was so excited to receive this advanced copy and I wasn’t disappointed! Returning to the warmth and comfort of Three Pines was very welcome as was the addition of new characters. I felt that the treatment of the pandemic was well judged and it tied in beautifully with the main themes of the story. The topic is controversial and one I think that will provoke considerable discussion but this is no bad thing.As ever it left me wanting more and wanting to reread to réabsorba the wisdom that always permeates these lovely novels.

Thank you for this copy

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Not sure what to say about this book, it was okay and the storyline was okay but did not have me hooked at all really.

I just didn't know what to make of this book. It started off brilliantly with an excellent. premise. Following the end of the pandemic, a statistician seeks to share her view that the way forward is to kill off the weak and elderly. For most people this is a horrendous idea but it seems to be taking hold much to the horror of the chief of police Gamache. When he saves her life at a rally, there are some who think he would have been better not to and this too he finds abhorrent. I thought the book would be an exploration of the rise of some of these unspeakable ideas but it veered from this and turned into a pretty low grade whodunnit because not long after this someone is murdered and the rest of the book is endless ruminating about who might have done it and why. This was extremely tedious and the book could have been (should have been) a lot shorter. It's a shame because i was quite taken with the quirkiness of the setting and of the characters at the beginning of the book but by the end I was desperate to leave them all behind.

Before starting this book I read the first novel in the series which I really enjoyed. The characters are intriguing and mainly likeable. It was brave to write a post pandemic novel when everyone is heartily fed up . It addressed an emotive and disturbing issue which is repulsive to most. However, although beautifully descriptive I found it became rather rambling and did not hold my interest. I would like to read the previous books in the series.

I haven't read any of the other books in the Inspector Gamache series but didn't feel that I'd missed out on anything I needed to know with the plot. This is a great murder mystery come police procedural.

This is the first I've read in this series by Louise Penny and maybe it my own fault but I felt I was jumpin into the middle of something rather than reading a stand alone novel. The characters obviously all had history and whilst some of this was explained for the main characters, many of the minor players had things alluded to but never explored. Perhaps none of it was necessary for the plot but as a reader I felt I was missing something.
The story is set in the village/town of Three Pines. A visiting Professor arrives to give a lecture, seemingly a last minute event. However when Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is assigned to keep order at the lecture he realises the Professor has a particular agenda, one that is gaining credence throughout the country. Set against the background of the COVID pandemic, the Professor's theories are cold blooded and abhorrent, but find favour with those who believe the world cannot return to the way it was.
An attempt on the Professor's life during the lecture is narrowly averted but Gamache can see that the Professor's message is finding favour with many. Move forward to New Year's Eve and a party at the local inn. Just after the midnight fireworks the local youth who had been drinking in the woods find a body. Investigation by Gamache and his colleagues reveal it to be the Professor's assistant and thus a mystery has to be unravelled.
I like a good crime/thriller but I'm afraid I found the latter part of this book dragged. The constant back and forth at the end, and going over the same evidence again and again, when anyone with an ounce of sense had guessed who did it half way though the story.
The characters of Gamache and his deputies Jean-Guy and Isabelle were all a bit too clean cut, whilst the surrounding cast of artist, poet (duck?) and family were annoying. The constant reference to Asshole saint felt as if a point was being driven home, hard.
Some thought provoking ideas in this but all in all a disappointing read.
Many thanks to Netgally and Hodder & Stoughton for the chance to read an early copy.

This was my first Chief Inspector Gamache novel. The story was based around an academic who was gaining traction with a controversial message as Canada recovered from the covid pandemic. Gamache was called in to offer protection and then to investigate the crimes that followed.

I thought it was a well-written book that had lots of great characters and made the reader think - not just about the crimes, but also about the contagion of how ideas can spread and take hold.

I was slightly perplexed about why suspects seemed to be interviewed in such an informal way and often with other suspects present, who were able to contribute to the conversation. It seemed a rather relaxed way to investigate a crime. But maybe things are different in Canada.

This book was part of a series, but worked as a standalone book. I was able to follow the story, get to know the characters and have a strong sense of place in Three Pines. However, it has also made me want to read earlier stories in the series to get to know them all better - and to find out why the heck is going on with that duck.

The first post Covid Christmas season, and in Three Pines Armand Gamache is called to police a talk by a statistician in the small university nearby. The likelihood of trouble or even much of an audience is doubtful, but Professor Robinson’s figures about the cost of rebuilding Canada in the wake of the pandemic has led her to conclusions that are controversial, and it appears that someone wants to put a stop to the spread of her message: shots are fired and only by the swift action of the police is a potentially deadly panic averted. Protecting the professor means keeping her in the heart of a community where almost all of the potential suspects are well-known to the police team, but many of them have reason enough to take against her distasteful proposals…
The village setting in wintry Quebec is an ideal backdrop for murder, limiting the number of potential suspects, and complicating the investigation with their inter-relatedness and past secrets. Gamache is an appealing investigator, thoughtful, intelligent and well-read, supported by the contrasting members of his team and surrounded by a close-knit family. This is a tense, gripping read which kept me turning the pages. Amazingly, it was my first encounter with Armand Gamache but I will certainly be seeking out the previous novels, as I enjoyed this one so much. Highly recommended.

I have read the first book in this Three Pines series, and wondered if I would be able to follow this last volume having missed so much in between. However, this book works well as a stand alone novel, though I think readers who have read all the books in the series will benefit from knowing the background characters and their stories. It is the first book I have read that uses the COVID pandemic as a setting, and it mostly works well. It will read more comfortably when the pandemic is truly behind us. Telling the story of a statistician who has an horrific theory of how to save public money post COVID, murder is not really the main story. If anything, I felt the book was over long; the same theories are discussed several times, and I would have enjoyed it more if it had had been 20% shorter. It is beautifully written, and the descriptions of snowy Canada are delightful.

The title of this book comes from a real collection of essays called Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. It is a murder story with chief inspector Armando Gamache of the Quebec police in charge but it is more than that. It is also an important analysis of what the effects could be of a pandemic which ends the lives of vulnerable people thus, in theory, releasing money and facilities for the rest of the fitter population. Professor Abigail Robinson, herself someone with a challenging background, is promoting a policy of compulsory euthanasia for elderly people, compulsory abortion for damaged babies and the killing of any not classed as ‘normal’. She is becoming a popular figure and is invited to give a public lecture which turns out to hugely supported and ends in the madness of crowds. Her view is that “Culls happen for the health of the community. They’re unfortunate but necessary.” The philosophical underpinning of the book is intriguing and important. The murder of the investigation gives the theory a platform to keep the reader’s interest. It requires concentration but is well written and has the attraction of being of contemporary interest and different.

I haven’t read any of the previous Gamache novels but I loved the reflective way the case was examined and the team’s sensitivity. This felt different from most detective stories. This is the first book that I have read examining the fallout from the pandemic and the outcome and the way it was handled is surprising and concerning, there are people in the world feeling that this allows the possibility of culling groups of society.
I thoroughly enjoyed the small town approach and the fact that everyone knew everyone else. This both helps and hinders the progress of the case.
Definitely recommended