Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns to Three Pines in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's latest spellbinding novel.

You're a coward.

Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache.

It starts innocently enough.

While the residents of the Québec village of Three Pines take advantage of the deep snow to ski and toboggan, to drink hot chocolate in the bistro and share meals together, the Chief Inspector finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a simple request.

He's asked to provide security for what promises to be a non-event. A visiting professor of statistics will be giving a lecture at the nearby university.

While he is perplexed as to why the head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec would be assigned this task, it sounds easy enough. That is, until Gamache starts looking into Professor Abigail Robinson and discovers an agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel the lecture.

They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson's views start seeping into conversations. Spreading and infecting. So that truth and fact, reality and delusion, are so confused it's near impossible to tell them apart.

Discussions become debates, debates become arguments, which turn into fights. As sides are declared, a madness takes hold.

Abigail Robinson promises that if they follow her, ça va bien aller. All will be well. But not, Gamache and his team know, for everyone.

When a murder is committed, it falls to Armand Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and their team to investigate the crime as well as this extraordinary popular delusion.

And the madness of crowds.

Review:

There's so much to love in this latest installment of the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny.  All our favorite characters, Ruth, and her swearing duck, Gabri and Olivier, Myrna, Clara, and Armand's wife, Reine-Marie are all back and in fine form.  Plus, this is the first novel I've read that addresses the recent pandemic.  Those real-life events are not the focus of the book, but they bring forth many ethical questions which are at the heart of the mystery.  This was a wonderful addition to this series.

What I Liked:

Addressing The Pandemic:

In the novel the pandemic is over, but there are references to the terrible price society has paid.  Besides acts of neighborly kindness, we hear of older people being abandoned and left to die in retirement communities.  I don't believe there was an actual case of this happening, but 80 % of Canadian COVID deaths in the early part of the pandemic were in nursing homes.  It has caused a reckoning in Canada.

Themes:

Along these lines, the main theme of the book revolves around a controversial doctor who advocates for forced "mercy" killings of older adults, and children with disabilities.  Most people find this horrifying.  But others buy into the fear that the doctor creates saying that Canada will collapse unless drastic measures are taken.  With such a wild claim, can you guess who is the target of the murder in the story?

Characters:

As always, I adore all the occupants of Three Pines.  The villagers have such an easy rapport with each other that I wish this were a real place I could move to.  When a new person is introduced into the mix, a young woman who seems to be modeled after Malala Yousafzai (the Pakistani activist who was disfigured for the sin of wanting to go to school), the group is excited to meet her and rolls out the welcome mat.  What they find is a bitter, unpleasant young woman who doesn't seem to respond to kindness.  They are confused, at first.  But eventually, they realize how different this woman's life has been from theirs, and they try to find some compassion.

Story:

As always, there is a complex mystery at the center of the novel.  I really liked the twists and turns in the plot, which I will not spoil here.  What I will say is that the investigation reveals the dark secrets of some of the villagers.  And it brings forth some very uncomfortable truths about Canada's participation in CIA-sponsored research into psychological torture techniques (something that actually happened).  This novel has so many elements of real-life issues interwoven into the story, that I felt it packed a huge punch.  Through her books, Louise Penny confronts what it means to be a civil society in an ever-changing world.  This is why I will want to visit the fictional village of Three Pines over and over again.

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  August 24th, 2021

Author:  Louise Penny

Publisher:  Minotaur Books

Genre:  Mystery

Page Length: 436 Pages

Source:  Public Library

Format:  E-Book

Recommendation:  The first novel to address the pandemic, this is one of the best in the Inspector Gamache series.  I highly recommend this book.