Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards.Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surt du Qubec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces---and this series---with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312352554
|
Hardcover
A Fatal Grace
By Penny, Louise
Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel! Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter - and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death. When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sret du Quebec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder - or brilliant enough to succeedWith his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312352561
|
Hardcover
The Cruelest Month
By Penny, Louise
“Many mystery buffs have credited Louise Penny with the revival of the type of traditional murder mystery made famous by Agatha Christie. . . . The book’s title is a metaphor not only for the month of April but also for Gamache’s personal and professional challenges---making this the series standout so far.” --Sarah WeinmanWelcome to Three Pines, where the cruelest month is about to deliver on its threat. It’s spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . . When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil---until one of their party dies of fright.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312352578
|
Hardcover
A Rule Against Murder
By Penny, Louise
What happened here last night isnt allowed, said Madame Dubois.It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.You have a rule against murder? he asked.I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe.It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But theyre not alone. The Finney family--rich, cultured, and respectable--has also arrived for a celebration of their own.The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312377021
|
Hardcover
The Brutal Telling
By Penny, Louise
Chaos is coming, old son. With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness. No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him? As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures -- from first editions of Charlotte's Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word "WOE" woven in it -- lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312377038
|
Hardcover
Bury Your Dead
By Penny, Louise
It is Winter Carnival in Quebec City, bitterly cold and surpassingly beautiful. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has come not to join the revels but to recover from an investigation gone hauntingly wrong. But violent death is inescapable, even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society -- where an obsessive historians quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly 400 years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it?Although he is supposed to be on leave, Gamache cannot walk away from a crime that threatens to ignite long-smoldering tensions between the English and the French. Meanwhile, he is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. "It doesnt make sense," Oliviers partner writes every day. "He didnt do it, you know." As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive the terrible event of his own past before he can bury his dead.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312377045
|
Hardcover
A Trick of the Light
By Penny, Louise
A New York Times Notable Crime Book and Favorite Cozy for 2011A Publishers Weekly Best MysteryThriller books for 2011 Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie but it sells her short. Her characters are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm.... --Booklist starred reviewHearts are broken, Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. Sweet relationships are dead.But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrows garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Claras solo show at the famed Muse in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sret du Qubec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312655457
|
Hardcover
The Beautiful Mystery
By Penny, Louise
A New York Times Bestselling Author -- Echoes of cloistered monks? ancient chant resonate deep in the wilderness surrounding Québec?s Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups monastery. When their choir director is murdered, Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir discover disquiet beneath the silence and discord in the harmony. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, Gamache must confront his own demons and consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781410450944
|
Hardcover
How the Light Gets In
By Penny, Louise
The #1 New York Times Bestseller"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." --Leonard CohenChristmas is approaching, and in Qubec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn't spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.
Publisher: n/a
|
9780312655471
|
Hardcover
The Long Way Home
By Penny, Louise
Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sret du Qubec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, "to make the wounded whole."While Gamache doesn't talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home. Failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache's help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250022066
|
Hardcover
The Nature of the Beast
By Penny, Louise
Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village.But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here.A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back.Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sret du Qubec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250022080
|
Hardcover
A Great Reckoning
By Penny, Louise
Instant New York Times bestseller: #1 in Hardcover Fiction#1 in E-book Fiction#1 in Combined Print and E-book Fiction"Deep and grand and altogether extraordinary... . Miraculous. " The Washington Post"Artful... Powerful... Magical. "- The New York Times Book Review"Superb"- People A Great Reckoning succeeds on every level. " St. Louis Post-Dispatch#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel. When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Surete du Quebec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Surete academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map. Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protegee of the murdered professor. The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets. For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning. "
From our buyer, Margaret Terwey: "If you haven't read Louise Penny yet, you have some catching up to do! A Great Reckoning is book #12 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. You can start with A Great Reckoning, and you'll enjoy it, especially if you like your mystery with a good dose of food, wine and history. You will quickly become addicted to this series and will want to binge read the previous books!"
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250022134
|
Audiobook
Glass Houses
By Penny, Louise
When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines one cold November day, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead.From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sret du Qubec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized. But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montral, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November, from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache's own conscience is standing in judgment.In her latest utterly gripping book, number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny shatters the conventions of the crime novel to explore what Gandhi called the court of conscience. A court that supersedes all others.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250066190
|
Hardcover
Kingdom of the Blind
By Penny, Louise
The new Chief Inspector Gamache novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author. When a peculiar letter arrives inviting Armand Gamache to an abandoned farmhouse, the former head of the Sret du Qubec discovers that a complete stranger has named him one of the executors of her will. Still on suspension, and frankly curious, Gamache accepts and soon learns that the other two executors are Myrna Landers, the bookseller from Three Pines, and a young builder. None of them had ever met the elderly woman.The will is so odd and includes bequests that are so wildly unlikely that Gamache and the others suspect the woman must have been delusional. But what if, Gamache begins to ask himself, she was perfectly sane When a body is found, the terms of the bizarre will suddenly seem less peculiar and far more menacing.
Publisher: n/a
|
9781250066305
|
Paperback
A Better Man
By Penny, Louise
Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sret du Qubec in the latest novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny. It's Gamache's first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter. As crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father. Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel ... , he resumes the search. As the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. And in the tumult, mistakes are made. In the next novel in this "constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves" (New York Times Book Review) , Gamache must face a horrific possibility, and a burning question. What would you do if your child's killer walked free
Still Life
By Penny, Louise
Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards.Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surt du Qubec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it's a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter. Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces---and this series---with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.
A Fatal Grace
By Penny, Louise
Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel! Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter - and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death. When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sret du Quebec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder - or brilliant enough to succeedWith his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.
The Cruelest Month
By Penny, Louise
“Many mystery buffs have credited Louise Penny with the revival of the type of traditional murder mystery made famous by Agatha Christie. . . . The book’s title is a metaphor not only for the month of April but also for Gamache’s personal and professional challenges---making this the series standout so far.” --Sarah WeinmanWelcome to Three Pines, where the cruelest month is about to deliver on its threat. It’s spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . . When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil---until one of their party dies of fright.
A Rule Against Murder
By Penny, Louise
What happened here last night isnt allowed, said Madame Dubois.It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.You have a rule against murder? he asked.I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe.It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But theyre not alone. The Finney family--rich, cultured, and respectable--has also arrived for a celebration of their own.The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming.
The Brutal Telling
By Penny, Louise
Chaos is coming, old son. With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness. No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him? As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures -- from first editions of Charlotte's Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word "WOE" woven in it -- lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.
Bury Your Dead
By Penny, Louise
It is Winter Carnival in Quebec City, bitterly cold and surpassingly beautiful. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has come not to join the revels but to recover from an investigation gone hauntingly wrong. But violent death is inescapable, even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society -- where an obsessive historians quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly 400 years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it?Although he is supposed to be on leave, Gamache cannot walk away from a crime that threatens to ignite long-smoldering tensions between the English and the French. Meanwhile, he is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. "It doesnt make sense," Oliviers partner writes every day. "He didnt do it, you know." As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive the terrible event of his own past before he can bury his dead.
A Trick of the Light
By Penny, Louise
A New York Times Notable Crime Book and Favorite Cozy for 2011A Publishers Weekly Best MysteryThriller books for 2011 Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie but it sells her short. Her characters are too rich, her grasp of nuance and human psychology too firm.... --Booklist starred reviewHearts are broken, Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. Sweet relationships are dead.But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrows garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Claras solo show at the famed Muse in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sret du Qubec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light.
The Beautiful Mystery
By Penny, Louise
A New York Times Bestselling Author -- Echoes of cloistered monks? ancient chant resonate deep in the wilderness surrounding Québec?s Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups monastery. When their choir director is murdered, Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir discover disquiet beneath the silence and discord in the harmony. Before finding the killer, before restoring peace, Gamache must confront his own demons and consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.
How the Light Gets In
By Penny, Louise
The #1 New York Times Bestseller"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." --Leonard CohenChristmas is approaching, and in Qubec it's a time of dazzling snowfalls, bright lights, and gatherings with friends in front of blazing hearths. But shadows are falling on the usually festive season for Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department, his old friend and lieutenant Jean-Guy Beauvoir hasn't spoken to him in months, and hostile forces are lining up against him. When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers that a longtime friend has failed to arrive for Christmas in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city. Mystified by Myrna's reluctance to reveal her friend's name, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America, but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.
The Long Way Home
By Penny, Louise
Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sret du Qubec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, "to make the wounded whole."While Gamache doesn't talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home. Failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache's help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines.
The Nature of the Beast
By Penny, Louise
Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village.But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here.A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back.Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sret du Qubec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.
A Great Reckoning
By Penny, Louise
Instant New York Times bestseller: #1 in Hardcover Fiction#1 in E-book Fiction#1 in Combined Print and E-book Fiction"Deep and grand and altogether extraordinary... . Miraculous. " The Washington Post"Artful... Powerful... Magical. "- The New York Times Book Review"Superb"- People A Great Reckoning succeeds on every level. " St. Louis Post-Dispatch#1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny pulls back the layers to reveal a brilliant and emotionally powerful truth in her latest spellbinding novel. When an intricate old map is found stuffed into the walls of the bistro in Three Pines, it at first seems no more than a curiosity. But the closer the villagers look, the stranger it becomes. Given to Armand Gamache as a gift the first day of his new job, the map eventually leads him to shattering secrets. To an old friend and older adversary. It leads the former Chief of Homicide for the Surete du Quebec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Surete academy, and a dead professor. And, with the body, a copy of the old, odd map. Everywhere Gamache turns, he sees Amelia Choquet, one of the cadets. Tattooed and pierced. Guarded and angry. Amelia is more likely to be found on the other side of a police line-up. And yet she is in the academy. A protegee of the murdered professor. The focus of the investigation soon turns to Gamache himself and his mysterious relationship with Amelia, and his possible involvement in the crime. The frantic search for answers takes the investigators back to Three Pines and a stained glass window with its own horrific secrets. For both Amelia Choquet and Armand Gamache, the time has come for a great reckoning. " From our buyer, Margaret Terwey: "If you haven't read Louise Penny yet, you have some catching up to do! A Great Reckoning is book #12 in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. You can start with A Great Reckoning, and you'll enjoy it, especially if you like your mystery with a good dose of food, wine and history. You will quickly become addicted to this series and will want to binge read the previous books!"
Glass Houses
By Penny, Louise
When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines one cold November day, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead.From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sret du Qubec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized. But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montral, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November, from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache's own conscience is standing in judgment.In her latest utterly gripping book, number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny shatters the conventions of the crime novel to explore what Gandhi called the court of conscience. A court that supersedes all others.
Kingdom of the Blind
By Penny, Louise
The new Chief Inspector Gamache novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author. When a peculiar letter arrives inviting Armand Gamache to an abandoned farmhouse, the former head of the Sret du Qubec discovers that a complete stranger has named him one of the executors of her will. Still on suspension, and frankly curious, Gamache accepts and soon learns that the other two executors are Myrna Landers, the bookseller from Three Pines, and a young builder. None of them had ever met the elderly woman.The will is so odd and includes bequests that are so wildly unlikely that Gamache and the others suspect the woman must have been delusional. But what if, Gamache begins to ask himself, she was perfectly sane When a body is found, the terms of the bizarre will suddenly seem less peculiar and far more menacing.
A Better Man
By Penny, Louise
Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media, and a mysterious disappearance greet Chief Inspector Armand Gamache as he returns to the Sret du Qubec in the latest novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny. It's Gamache's first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter. As crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father. Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel ... , he resumes the search. As the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. And in the tumult, mistakes are made. In the next novel in this "constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves" (New York Times Book Review) , Gamache must face a horrific possibility, and a burning question. What would you do if your child's killer walked free