A Better Man: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

Louise brings her reader into the family of Three Pines with a page turner from beginning to finish. She deftly weaves in the last novel and prepares her reader for the one to come. An absolute joy to read.

Another great read !The story keeps building with thoughtful details. Then they are woven into a consuming story that keeps you wanting to know the truth !

This story is a tough one to read because it touches on abuse in many forms. I realize that this is an accurate look into such areas, but somehow was hoping that the author would not steer the stories towards such darkness. The last three books have seemed very different in their feelings including the residents of Three Pines. I have loved the 1 through 10 books, but have noticed a different style in these last 5. Maybe it's me, but I'm sad to see them grow darker since then. I'll always love Inspector Gamache, because he represents honesty, truth, and goodness in this tired old World!

Great book. Deep, intricate and a satisfying story. Complex characters and plot. On to the next Gamache tale with you!

Add to the excellent writing in general a great plot twist and you have yet another “cannot out it down” read. I highly recommend A Better Man,

As with all of Louise Penney’s mysteries that I have read, this one kept me hooked to the very end. I can’t wait to read the next one.

How can one detective be so honest yet riskay? Willing to take a leaping risk for justice, face demotion as success, and raging rivers and still float to the top? Penny does it again in a maze of characters whose personal truths deceive the reader into final honesty. More profound character is released in our detective never say die detectives.

OK, maybe it’s just me getting old. I have read all of this series up to and including this book and loved them all.But there are two points at the ending that I just can’t figure out even after reading the last 50 pages several times. Who actually killed Vivian? Was it her godmother who accidentally pushed her off the bridge when they met to exchange money? Or was it her father?The other minor point of confusion was who Gama was going to choose to be his second in command at the surety. Was it Cameron? Or Lacoste?

It was good, but didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I mean I enjoy a few plot twists, but in terms of last quarter of the book, it seemed like there were 20. I’m still a Penny fan, but perhaps I need a break from this binge.

Another in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, in which a pregnant woman is missing and then found dead. But how did she die? At the hands of her abusive husband? Someone else? Perhaps at her own hand? But what woman who's pregnant would choose to kill herself?Armand and Jean-Guy are in the middle of the muddles that surround little Three Pines even as spring floods threaten to wash all evidence away, along with numerous towns and villages.Another winning addition to this fabulous series.

"What would you do if your child's killer walked free?”Armand Gamache, former Chief Superintendent of the Surete du Quebec, was put on involuntary leave following a difficult yet, many would say, successful dismantling of the area's drug cartels. Since then, attacks from politicians and social medial trolls, as well as a doctored video portraying Gamache as a child abuser have been ongoing. As his leave ends, Gamache is offered to return, not to his old job but with a demotion - a humiliation that no one expects him to accept - dropping from Superintendent of the Surete to the head of the Homicide department. Those in power may have been surprised when he accepts, but no one close to him was.A severe winter and a late spring have led to catastrophic flooding across the province. When a father seeks the assistance of the Surete in locating his missing daughter, staffing is tight but Gamache can't say no. He asks himself, what if it were his daughter, Annie? Waters rise, flooding threatens the province, the attacks on him through social media get nastier and mistakes are made.An exciting, moving novel with so many twists and turns that it had me on pins and needles. So moving that I even teared up - a first for me with this series. I know I say this after each book, but this is one of the best in the series. It was touching and emotional, with a difficult goodbye and a new chapter beginning. Issues of domestic violence, child abuse, the dark side of social media and global warming are addressed.For maximum enjoyment I recommend reading the books in order. Trigger: although there is no actual abuse taking place in the story, spousal and child abuse and the long-term damages of each are referred to. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love Louise Penny. I love the characters she’s created in Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Clara, Ruth, and the citizens of Three Pines. I love the town of Three Pines. I love the way her novels weave together multiple storylines, and deal with deeper issues than merely “whodunnit.”Louise Penny is a master of her craft.And A Better Man is another engrossing read—layered, nuanced, gripping.And yet, there are certain things that stick in my craw. Like the way art, in Penny’s Gamache/Three Pines universe is either “genius” or “crap.” And the meaning of an individual work of art is set in stone, apparently not up for debate or interpretation.A single white dot in the eye of a portrait contains meaning, apparently, that anyone will/should/could interpret in precisely the same way, in Penny’s universe.While an interesting idea for a story, it is a hogwash idea in reality, where, of course, art/beauty/meaning all reside in the eye of the beholder.Yet so much of Penny’s plot points often rely on this notion: that art/quality/beauty/meaning are *objective*, rather than subjective. And it just irks me.I also had to question certain choices that the police officer characters made—inviting victims into their homes, that kind of thing. Would that really be allowed? I don’t know enough about protocol of the Canadian police, but I’m skeptical.Other than these issues, which required some rather intense suspension of disbelief, I was, as usual, drawn into the story, and Penny’s masterful writing. I could not put the book down and raced through it in a couple of days.As long as I go into a Louise Penny book with the understanding that this is fiction, and likely not adhering to reality except in the fact that the laws of physics apply, I can sit back and truly enjoy her books.I’m looking forward to the next fantasy mystery!

Louise Penny is a fine, accomplished writer. I have read all but two of the Inspector Gamache series for which she has received so many accolades. She has written several books that I consider outstanding, including this one, A Better Man. She has also written some awful ones, for example, The Long Way Home. So, how can an award-winning professional author write outstanding books as well as awful books? Two weaknesses: story line and central characters. The story line of A Better Man, however, is terrific -- an obvious murderer identified early on and then pursued with vigor; the police stripped of important evidence by a nutty court ruling and then going over and over the evidence until they finally face the small mismatches of their assumptions with the evidence. Great story line. As to central characters, regrettably the most problematic is the feature character of the series, Armand Gamache. He is a towering figure but a strangely non-masculine or even feminine man. I'm sure he never farts or spits. He doesn't hunt or fish, even though he lives in a small Quebec village surrounded by woods and rivers. He dislikes guns and we never hear of him re-qualifying on the shooting range. What kind of policeman is this? In A Better Man, he is satisfyingly curious and persevering in the face of a demotion and the doubts of some members of his team. He spots the character flaws of others, but not his own -- a very realistic feature of the man. The only weakness of this wonderful story of a woman murdered at midnight on a rainy spring night is the obvious evidence that gets overlooked. The villain of the story is a ceramics artist who appears to have murdered his wife. Ms. Penny sells us on this suspect's wickedness immediately, and we can hardly wait for him to be brought to justice. It takes several hundred pages, but justice wins out and we are left content. A great read.

“A Better Man” is the fifteenth book in this amazing series following Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Each book tells its own story, each story builds upon the other and is rich in content, character development and addresses issues we have in life. The characters do slide in and out of each story which adds to the enjoyment when you read each story. But, this book had me confused. Louise Penny usually treats each character with love and growth and care. This story lacked the thoughtfulness and care for her characters. Myra is depicted as large and ample. Clara somehow ruins her career showing a series of miniature paintings and loses her confidence! She receives bad reviews which generates a social media backlash and we are expected to believe that her previous buyers wish to return ALL her paintings. Ruth has begun to almost communicate so we can understand her. She has become mundane, silly and disingenuous. What’s going on with the sub plots? And, Gamache - In the story, Twitter has constant comments of criticism and negative opinions about him. Even worse is video showing him in a horrific scene, acting in an appalling manner. Oh, the author attempts to repair the damage from this video but how do you erase the shocking visual from the people’s minds? They will forever see those images, as fake as, they are. And, it hurt Gamache to the core to have seen it and know that it was out there for all of Canada to view. It had racial overtones and maybe Louise Penny was attempting to make a commentary regarding social media, but I couldn’t figure out what that was…At the end, we find out who leaked the fake video - someone who worked with Gamache, was insecure about her job and decided to discredit Gamache….Yes, I am lost, confused, muddled…..I read the story because the main plot was written by the Louise Penny, I’ve adored and loved. The suspense and excitement starts at page one! And, continues to expand and build until the last word! It is loaded with danger, intrigue and is filled with twists and turns.

5 starsA raging river, a frightened pregnant woman, a mean drunk man, an avaricious woman, a mourning father, unrequited love and a vengeful police officer all blend together in this the latest of Louise Penny's smash series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, his family and friends in the little village of Three Pines.The social media also plays a very large part in this story. Not only is it a grey area within the law, but its sheer destructiveness is illustrated.Much to his superiors' surprise Gamache takes a demotion back to being the Chief of the Homicide Division. They had hoped to humiliate him, but he appears to take it in his stride. When he receives notice about a missing pregnant woman, especially given the immanent spring floods he and his small team are very concerned. Gamache and a relatively new member to his team, Lysette Cloutier go to interview the woman's husband. Met with violence and threats by the drunk man, Gamache and Lysette go to interview the woman's father who said she was coming to his house.As the rivers continue to rise, Gamache begins to empathize with Monsieur Godin and his missing daughter Vivienne. What would he feel if it were his daughter Annie who was missing?A body is found. Gamache pulls in the rest of his team and they begin to investigate, including his now boss and former subordinate his son-in-law Jean-Guy Beauvoir.It turns out to be a particularly difficult case because of it's nature. That is to say it has to do with abuse, drunkenness, possible infidelity and so many outward displays of anger.All of the police officers involved in this case did much self-examination of their thoughts and motives. Ms. Penny does a wonderful job describing the insights into human nature and psychology that the various characters experience. The people in her books are so lifelike and real that I felt like more of a witness than a reader. Now with Jean-Guy and Annie moving to Paris, I wonder what's in store for the Gamache family next?

We eagerly await each new Gamache novel by Louise Penny, as we've read them all and find ourselves missing her main characters as soon as we finish reading each book. Although it was a bit jarring to find tweets featured at the beginning of chapters, the manipulation and unreliability of social media is one of the plot-lines and themes in A Better Man. Penny's depiction of the profound relationship between Gamache and his son-in-law, Beauvoir, never disappoints, although some of the secondary characters (Annie, for example) are depicted in a rather perfunctory manner. We also found it hard to believe that it would take Gamache, who is usually able to divine hidden motives long before even his most experienced colleagues, so long to question assumptions about the murder. And the recurring references to Melville's Moby-Dick seemed strained at times, especially in a novel populated by so many female characters that focuses on "family" issues.On the plus side, Penny demonstrates a good grasp of the power and control dynamics of domestic violence and takes pains to avoid portraying dv survivors as passive victims. She also introduces several secondary characters who complicate the plot as well as the themes and generates a sub-plot regarding Clara's artistic reputation and career that may reflect self-referential concerns about her own development and status as a famous author. The loving and respectful relationship between Gamache and his wife anchors this novel and reverberates with the intensity of Penny's undiminished devotion to her recently deceased husband, Michael. This love and devotion is mirrored in theattention the author pays to the family's dogs, both in this novel and in real life as revealed in her Afterward. One of Penny's great strengths as a novelist is her uncanny ability to punctuate an especially dangerous or emotional scene with much-appreciated yet unexpected comic relief. This frequently takes the form of a double entendre or a string of 4-letter words, especially when they are injected by the elderly poet, Ruth, or her duck Rosa. On the whole Penny again manages to pull off a difficult narrative trick: creating a novel that can stand alone but that also gains depth and significance by the many ways in which it extends and elaborates upon themes and relationships established previously in the Gamache series. When you close this book and reluctantly put it down, you will immediately begin pining (excuse the pun) for the next installment and wondering how long you'll have to wait for another visit to Three Pines.

It’s early spring in Quebec, and the ice-packed rivers are thawing. The combination of thick ice and thaw, snow and refreezing, is creating treacherous conditions, including an imminent threat of flooding. The situation is so bad in Montreal that dynamite is being used to break the ice-jams. In the village of Three Pines, on the Bella Bella River and near the Vermont border, the residents are sandbagging.It's also Chief Inspector Armand Gamache’s first day back on the job at the Quebec Surete. No one can quite believe he came back; no one can quite believe he accepted a demotion to return to head of Homicide, replacing his own son-on-law Jean-Guy Beauvoir who’s leaving the force and moving with his family to Paris. As if to punctuate the bad feeling against Gamache, Twitter is alive with hate and personal attacks, including a clearly faked video.A member of Gamache’s team reports that a young woman is missing. She’s married to an abusive husband; waiting for to arrive at home, her father is frantic. The abusive husband denies any knowledge of his wife’s whereabouts; he says she’s likely run off with her lover. The couple lived not far from Three Pines, and part of the land is sliced open to relieve the pressures from the flooding. They find the woman’s suitcase in the mud. Then they find the woman’s body.It looks like an open-and-shut case, but nothing is ever what it seems in the Quebec of Armand Gamache.“A Better Man” by Canadian author Louise Penny is the 15th in the Inspector Gamache series, and it’s a winner like its predecessors. Gamache is experiencing change and upheaval on all sides – his family, his job, what he thinks he knows about his colleagues – and Penny tells her story on several levels.It wouldn’t be a Gamache novel without help from his friends in Three Pines. Artist Clara Morrow is having an existential art crisis, brought on by vicious attacks on social media. Crazy and profane poet Ruth Zardo tries her hand at helping everyone’s social media problems. Gabri and Olivier are still running the bistro, handing out lattes and warm brioche (it makes one wonder how the characters avoid gaining weight with each successive novel). Ruth’s duck Rosa is still around, keeping her mistress company and shocking visitors with her four-letter quacks.With a sub-story about the evils of social media, “A Better Man” is another great Inspector Gamache novel.

I have read every single one of Louise Penny’s books. When I was first introduced to her fifteen years ago I was so excited: here was a writer who wrote about “my” home, Montreal/Eastern Townships. I so enjoyed getting to know the people, Armand, Jean Guy, and the quirky characters in Three Pines. Through book after book, I explored my highs and lows with her/them. I always pre-ordered the book. However, there were books I enjoyed less, such as The Beautiful Mystery, because I just couldn’t get my head around a missing Gregorian chant and Jean Guy’s descent into drug addiction. However, I kept reading every time a new Louise Penny was published because it was the next best (and cheaper) thing to getting on a plane and going home to Quebec.So, on to this one. I want to start off by saying that I still like The Three Pines mysteries. Louise Penny DOES explore the contradictions of modern-day life and ethics. What is evil? What makes it evil? Can an evil (wo)man do good and vice versa? But these are very tough questions to address in what is essentially a murder mystery series and, in my opinion, Louise Penny often wanders into the “precious” area, where she is subtly trying to preach to us when really what we want is to be entertained. And “her” solution to the mystery ends up being too preachy, and almost too wishy washy as well. I can’t explain this part of my review without a spoiler and I never do spoilers so, if you are curious enough, email me and I will tell you what I mean :)Another thought that occurred to me as I read the book, and I don’t feel discussing this is a spoiler as it has nothing to do with the actual mystery, is that there might be a part of Louise’s own biography in this book more than the others. In the book, Clara, who is an artist, is bombarded with negative reviews about her latest work. On social media and it is vicious. Clara says at one point about her reactions to the critics “.... That I’m not a real artist at all but ... what did one tweet call me? A poseur....” And truthfully at times I felt that about Penny’s recent books. That she has at times ventured into the “poseur” realm, that her books are just a bit too “I am the great Louise Penny, see how deep my books are.” And, again truthfully, my reactions are colored by reading her monthly newsletter where she talks about all the awards she is up for/has received and her jetting around Canada, the US and Europe. I feel like an old friend has, perhaps, got a bit too much for me. Maybe my problem was that I had identified her as a friend because of our common origins.Anyway, the mystery itself in the book—the battered, pregnant wife who goes missing in the midst of devastating Quebec Spring flooding—is nicely (in murder mystery terms) convoluted. Is the first suspect the REAL culprit? Issues of spousal battering arise and are touched on and Penny does a good job of outlining the reasons why women stay. Although most of us know that already; but perhaps some don’t. There are a lot of confusing elements in the book and things don’t really make sense. What Chief Inspector invites a total stranger to stay in his house? Especially one who has just battered his wife? Also, I am SO tired of Gamache’s continuing struggles with Quebec political/police bureaucracy. And in this book especially it is annoying. I thought she covered it quite adequately in A Great Reckoning and Glass Houses. C’est fini, move on. It’s time to focus on Gamache the human being, not Gamache the Police Chief Inspector tilting at the Quebec Surete windmill.My final quibble is with the way she says the same thing, describes the same emotion, in ten different ways over two pages. At one point in the book, she describes Gamache’s aversion to guns and his reasons for it. It’s a good point, could have been summarized in a paragraph. But no, she continued to use different adjectives, different perspectives, for two whole pages so that it came more a philosophical exercise than an important and visceral (for me, in gun happy Arizona) point.So, you say, guess this means you are finis with Louise? No, no, next year I will probably pre-order the next Gamache novel. It’s like an old friendship. I may get frustrated with her, call her out, but ultimately I have a relationship with her and her series. And I don’t jettison old friendships just because they make me think about why I react the way I do ;)

Louise Penny writes such crafted and endearing characters that I find myself eager to see what they have been up to and what challenges they will face as the latest episode of Three Pines appears in my library shelves.After a long suspension, we learn Inspector Gamache is back at Homicide in the Surete. We see the Inspector's strength of character and courage in accepting this lowered position. There are further changes in the lives of the Surete and they are all set against the raging waters of Spring. Chief Inspector Gamache is not the only life undergoing scrutiny as we quickly learn.Through the social media of Twitter, we learn that Clara is also under attack. She had ventured into a new medium of miniatures and the critics are not pleased. Her career is in balance as the art is discussed and torn apart.As the waters rise and rage onward, there is a missing person's report. Chief Inspector Gamache is sent on the assignment as he is the newest member of the team. He takes along another member who he personally chose for her cleverness with numbers.There is so much more going on in this book. I do not wish to give away the entire story plots, as the emotion Ms. Penny can evoke should be spontaneous to each reader. All I will say is that I went through the gamut of emotions and then found myself in tears reading the'Acknowledgements.'What more can one ask of a superior novel? More please...just keep writing. Three pines has stories waiting for us to discover. More please.

The latest book has arrived! I feel so fortunate that I found this remarkable articulate series early on. Each book improves as Louise Penny finds surer footing for the characters and locale she has created. One reviewer commented recently that she found her voice around the fourth book and I agree! Now with this book it is again an adventure to walk with Gamach and seek true justice with honor. A Better Man kept me awake most of last night and I read for several hours today. I have a handful of chapters to finish it but need to rest my eyes!Penny's overarching plots are complex and multi-layered. The unique plots for each book are fascinating. Others have written about the layers of plotting in A Better Man which is well described. Even fictional suppositions are incredibly presented. I truly believe every move made and the so human responses of the characters.Do read each book in order and get acquainted with all these characters, most of whom will return in every book. The character growth and the issues they face in our modern world are fascinating. You will think about the book after it's done, asking yourself "what ifs" about the situations. I am sure Ms. Penny thought through each move of the chess game she creates in words for us and I am grateful. For her many happy readers, another Gamache has crossed our thresholds this week and we hold our books, our Kindles, our MP3 players with joy!I, for one, am ready to re-read the series from the beginning now searching for the clues to the personalities and character of the men and women I know today. They are friends now, even Ruth and I long to have a coffee and croissant in the cafe with Reine Marie and read the paper.