how the light gets in

how the light gets in
armand gamache #9
louise penny
mystery
minotaur books
published 2013



As a fierce, unrelenting winter grips Quebec, shadows are closing in on Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Most of his best agents have left the Homicide Department and hostile forces are lining up against him. 

When Gamache receives a message about a mysterious case in Three Pines, he is compelled to investigate -- a woman who was once one of the most famous people in the world has vanished. 

As he begins to shed light on the investigation, he is drawn into a web of murder, lies and unimaginable corruption at the heart of the city. Facing his most challenging, and personal, case to date, can Gamache save the reputation of the Sûreté, those he holds dear and himself?

The one benefit to being sick is that I have only the energy to read.  And not even from a physical book that requires page turning, but just my Kindle that only needs a tap from a finger.  So in a couple of days I've nearly caught up with Chief Inspector Gamache and it is brilliant.

My heart was broken at the end of The Beautiful Mystery when Beauvoir joins Francoeur on that little plane.  I couldn't believe that it was really happening and like Agent Lacoste I thought maybe it was a ploy, a secret plan between Gamache and Beauvoir to infiltrate Francoeur's inner circle, but alas.

I think I've said this about the last two books as well, but truly this book was not about the murder mystery but of the events that began with Arnot well before the first book.  This is the end game.  And it was a nail biter.  

Penny is a fantastic writer.  All along she has built characters that are so deep and rich you can't help but feel you must know them as real people.  She's strung us along, always with this story in the background, nipping at the heels of the Chief.  Finally, it is over. 

I love Three Pines.  I love every person in that town and the growth of these characters was no more apparent than in this book.  The villagers who rallied around good and fought against evil because they loved a man who had admitted to them he was flawed.  A man who desperately wanted to fix what was broken, even if that meant breaking himself.

It is a damn good series.  Probably one of the best I've read.  Thankfully, there is still more story to tell.