“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 … 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 Sûreté du Québec to places even he is afraid to go. But must. And there he finds four young cadets in the Sûreté 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 protégée 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.
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All of the books in the series are wonderful. It interested me because I was Canadian and the boos take place in Montreal where I lived.
I love all her books. Love the characters. Best to read the series in order.
Louise Penny books do mot disappoint!
Love these books.
Louise Penny writes mysteries with morals; start with about the 3rd or 4th books to meet the major characters ; the books get better in sequence with the exception of the horrendous beast.
There is a whole series about this inspector, and I want to read them all. Everything about this book was good…the plot, the characters, the setting, the author’s fabulous writing style that made you feel as if your were actually there. I am very stingy with my 5 star ratings, so trust me when I say this is a great book!
Louise Penny writes mysteries that keep you guessing to the last few pages. Her characters are very well drawn, believable and so human and her insights into the human psyche are perceptive. This is a well done series that will give you hours of absorbing reading.
Love her books, read in order best for me.
Beautiful language, all her books are well written.
Every one of Penny’s novels about the town of Three Pines, Ontario, Canada, are literate, compelling, and entertaining. The character development is first-rate, especially Inspector Armand Gamache. Penny pays homage to great art, poetry, and music in her novels.
The first of the Gamache books I read. Now I Must read them in order. Wonderful characters.
Murder mystery with great cast,killer unpredictable
While I adore all Louise Penny’s books, I think this is my favorite. Her characters are compelling, complex, and deeply human. The ethical issues in one makes it my favorite.
So this wouldn’t be my first choice for a read, it was assigned for school. Otherwise I’d never start with the 12th in a series. However the book is written in a way that anyone can pick up and enjoy and Penny’s gift with prose helps immerse you in her world and carry you to the end. It felt like she stumbled a bit in some places. I applaud her inclusion of diverse characters but some like Amelia and Nathaniel feel sometimes like standins or stereotypes than actual people. There’s also a fairly big piece of the puzzle that felt a bit too obscure to fit nicely into place the way it does in the book. Still an enjoyable whodunnit with twists throughout, threaded together with themes of corruption and redemption, that you don’t fully realize the depths of until the end. Pretty great read and if mystery is your genre of choice you can probably feel confident in adding another star to this rating.
Great series.
I love all of Louise Penny’s books and this is just one more exceptional read!
It got great reviews, but I wasn’t that impressed. The plot (the explanation for the murder) was not only difficult to predict, it was preposterous. I have my doubts it could have happened. Perhaps I am naive and don’t know enough about how twisted humans can. I can believe someone might TRY it, but I struggle believe so many people would give no clues for so long (and as I read that, I wonder. I do know lots of horrible things are kept secret for reasons that don’t make sense to others). The rest of the plot was okay. Lots of misdirection, but that’s normal. And a sweet side story that didn’t do much for me – although I recognize it was a sweet story.