I'm so glad you've discovered Three Pines and the Armand Gamache books. I hope you're enjoying reading them as much as I love writing them.

There’s a new Gamache novel on the way! THE MADNESS OF CROWDS will be published on August 24th. After the sojourn in Paris, we are back in Three Pines in time for Christmas.

The pre-publication reviews are beginning to come in. The first one is a starred Publishers Weekly.

Publishers Weekly
" Brilliant...Seamlessly integrating debates about scientific experimentation and morality into a fair-play puzzle, Penny excels at placing her characters in challenging ethical quandaries. This author just goes from strength to strength. "



Here’s a very brief synopsis of the action in THE MADNESS OF CROWDS:


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.



You can pre-order MADNESS from your bookshop or reserve it at your library. And we’ve put together a virtual tour, which will help raise money for the bookstores as well as local community organizations. Here’s the link to more information.



And, continuing on the theme of ‘madness’ - there is a second book I’m involved in writing. My co-author is my good friend, and former American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. The book is called STATE OF TERROR. Not surprisingly, it’s a political thriller, and will be published October 12th. (As you notice, I am going from madness to terror… seems about right).

Here’s a bit about STATE OF TERROR:

After a tumultuous period in American politics, a new administration has just been sworn in, and to everyone’s surprise the president chooses a political enemy for the vital position of secretary of state.

There is no love lost between the president of the United States and Ellen Adams, his new secretary of state. But it’s a canny move on the part of the president. With this appointment, he silences one of his harshest critics, since taking the job means Adams must step down as head of her multinational media conglomerate.

As the new president addresses Congress for the first time, with Secretary Adams in attendance, Anahita Dahir, a young foreign service officer (FSO) on the Pakistan desk at the State Department, receives a baffling text from an anonymous source.

Too late, she realizes the message was a hastily coded warning.

What begins as a series of apparent terrorist attacks is revealed to be the beginning of an international chess game involving the volatile and Byzantine politics of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran; the race to develop nuclear weapons in the region; the Russian mob; a burgeoning rogue terrorist organization; and an American government set back on its heels in the international arena.

As the horrifying scale of the threat becomes clear, Secretary Adams and her team realize it has been carefully planned to take advantage of four years of an American government out of touch with international affairs, out of practice with diplomacy, and out of power in the places where it counts the most.

To defeat such an intricate, carefully constructed conspiracy, it will take the skills of a unique team: a passionate young FSO; a dedicated journalist; and a smart, determined, but as yet untested new secretary of state.

You can pre-order it too. You can imagine the fun Hillary and I have had writing it, though it does explore serious and timely issues.



Back to Gamache - the current book, ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE, debuted at #1 on the New York Times list as well as The Toronto Globe and Mail, making it the top selling book in North America!
The reception was amazing!

New York Times lead review
"Louise Penny’s most haunting novel yet."

People Magazine’s Book of the week
“Penny excels at capturing the inner life, whether it’s a criminal’s or a resentful child’s. Series novices and die-hard fans alike will be left breathless—and moved.”

Wall Street Journal
"Penny's novels unravel criminal schemes that have moral consequences... what stays with the reader are the tender passages, the human insights, the reminders of what makes life worth living.”

Booklist
" A deftly-plotted mystery... Penny's series has always been about the complexities and sustaining glories of family, and here she takes that theme even further, revealing fissures in the Gamache clan, but also showing the resilience and love at its root. Series devotees will revel in both Penny's evocation of Paris--every bit as sumptuous as her rendering of Three Pines--and in the increased role she allots to librarian Reine-Marie, whose research skills are crucial to untying the Gordian knot at the mystery's core. This celebration of the First Family of crime fiction will be treasured by Penny's ever-growing legion of readers." - Bill Ott

Kirkus
" Penny's mystery is meticulously constructed and reveals hard truths about the hidden workings of the world-as well as the workings of the Gamache family….If you're new to Penny's world, this would be a great place to jump in. Then go back and start the series from the beginning."

Publishers Weekly
" The tension rises as Gamache tries to investigate…in a jurisdiction where he has no authority, and vital secrets about his family come to light, changing relationships forever. Penny's nuanced exploration of the human spirit continues to distinguish this brilliant series. "

Library Journal
" The strengths of this latest procedural from the inimitable Penny will attract her longtime fans and also draw in new admirers. A deft touch with plotting, sensitive characterization, and the author’s warmth and humanity make this a must-have mystery…"

The St. Louis Post Dispatch
"Penny excels at creating a sense of place, and she brings Paris to life with scenes small (a favorite garden at the Rodin museum) and big (the top of the Eiffel Tower). We walk — or, when necessary, run — through the streets of Paris, taste lemon tarts and mourn the fire damage to Notre Dame.”

Women’s World
"…a thrilling read."

Bookreporter.com
"Ranks among the very best in this stellar series and shows us more of Gamache than we thought we already knew."

The Irish Times
"Impeccable…electrifying….breathtakingly well done."


Lots of exciting things happening. If you'd like to follow along, feel free to either join me on Facebook, or sign up for the newsletter.
There is also the site, Gamacheseries.com, a sort of virtual bistro where we discuss various themes and issues in the series. Among other features we have The Annotated Three Pines, Postcards from Three Pines, and the Cultural Inspirations for Three Pines. The merry minstrel of the virtual bistro, Paul Hochman, takes it one book at a time, and examines the art, literature, poetry, music, philosophy that informs the themes of the series.




I'm often asked two questions: should the books be read in order? And, what is the order?

Both excellent questions. At the risk of appearing to want you to buy more books let me say that while it's not necessary to read them in any particular order (they're designed to be self-standing) there is quite a strong character development arc. I think you'd enjoy the books even more if read in order.

Now, here's the order, from the first to the most recent:

STILL LIFE
A FATAL GRACE / DEAD COLD
THE CRUELEST MONTH
A RULE AGAINST MURDER / THE MURDER STONE
THE BRUTAL TELLING
BURY YOUR DEAD
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN
THE LONG WAY HOME
THE NATURE OF THE BEAST
A GREAT RECKONING
GLASS HOUSES
KINGDOM OF THE BLIND
A BETTER MAN
ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE
THE MADNESS OF CROWDS
STATE OF TERROR (co-written with Hillary Clinton)

Some of the books have different titles, as you might have noticed. The publishers did this not, as you might suspect, to be annoying but because they genuinely feel their readers respond to different titles. I hope it's not too confusing.



And finally, a small note about the themes in my books. They're inspired by two lines from a poem by WH Auden, in his elegy to Melville. Goodness existed, that was the new knowledge/his terror had to blow itself quite out to let him see it.

How powerful is that?



A Great Reckoning
The Nature of the Beast
The Long Way Home


As you might have noticed, you can no longer just click through to my Facebook page. Facebook has decided you now need to join. It’s definitely not my doing and I’m very sorry about that.
 
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Indie Bound



My books are about terror. That brooding terror curled deep down inside us. But more than that, more than murder, more than all the rancid emotions and actions, my books are about goodness. And kindness. About choices. About friendship and belonging. And love. Enduring love.

If you take only one thing away from any of my books I'd like it to be this:

Goodness exists.




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