Everything is Worth it, After All

Louise Penny has been taking me on quite the rollercoaster with these last few books, but How the Light Gets In feels like my favorite part of the ride: the end. I know there are still several books left in the Inspector Gamache series but I think it may be awhile until I come back to them, because this one made me feel completely satisfied with everyone’s trajectory.

How the Light Gets In tells two stories: Inspector Gamache is solving the murder of an elderly woman, who, it turns out, used to be one of the most recognizable people in the world but had purposely faded into obscurity. Murders in the Gamache series are always somewhat secondary to character development, but in this one, it’s also secondary to Gamache dealing with the corruption in the Surete du Quebec. We’ve known about this corruption for several books now, and How the Light Gets In wraps it up and reveals the Big Bad who’s been plotting behind the scenes to not only orchestrate Gamache’s downfall, but basically the destruction of Quebec City.

This one is far and away my favorite Gamache book. I don’t feel like I’m a hard-to-please reader, but I have struggled with this series of late. It feels like, finally, Penny hit upon a story that I found fully enjoyable and engaging. It was truly a pleasure to read.

CBR10 Bingo Category: Snubbed! I must be a terrible judge of mystery book quality. My two faves in this series (this one and A Rule Against Murder) were both nominated for awards but neither won any, meanwhile my least favorites in the series were just raking them in.