Ringing in the New Year with Inspector Gamache <3

Well, CBR10 was an epic disaster for me (I think I reviewed one book? maybe?), but we’re going to give ‘er another go this year.

And what better way to kick things off than with the latest instalment in the Inspector Gamache series. There are very few books that I pre-order and am willing to pay full price for the hardcover immediate release. This series is one of those exceptions.

This is the 14th book to date, and I can’t stress enough that you should go back and start from the beginning, because the beauty is not just in the individual mysteries, but in the character development over the long haul.  I have said it with each of the reviews I’ve done on this series, the characters are both flawed and loveable, complicated and relatable, and are what makes this one of my must-reads.

In this latest chapter, Inspector Gamache as well as two others, are named as executors in the will of a woman that they have never met (instead of the deceased’s adult children).  To complicate the mystery further, one of these descendants is murdered shortly after the will is read. While processing all of this, Gamache is dealing with the fallout of the events of the last book, looking for a lost shipment of drugs on the streets of Montreal, all while suspended from his role as head of the police department.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, so will just say that this book is great. It’s very much in line with the rest of the series, with few surprises; to be clear that’s a good thing – it’s a perfect curl-up-with-a-book-and-a-blanket-in-the-middle-of-winter mystery. It was great to have so many familiar characters reappear (including one of my favourite cadets from the police academy), and definitely left the fate of my absolute favourite character up in the air. Penny has been good at preserving the favourites, and so I’m trusting that the implied removal of said character from the direct storyline will be resolved in the next book. (Otherwise, she will be receiving a strongly worded letter from this adoring fan).

I know I have the backing of several other Cannonballers when I say, without hesitation, go start this series.

(Unrelated to the actual story, the artwork on the inside cover is beautiful, and I’m contemplating tearing the page out and framing it…. will the book gods smite me for this destructive idea?)