A Better man

Locations
Call Number: Mystery / Penny, Louise, Adult Book / Fiction / Mystery / General / Penny, Louise, Adult Book / Fiction / Mystery / General / Penny, Louise
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Westgate Branch

It's Gamache's first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Flood waters are rising across the province. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter. As crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Book submitted by Clown81 on August 31, 2019, 4:39pm How.

One of the better stories submitted by 21621031390949 on June 15, 2020, 10:46am This is one of the better books in the Gamache series. Some of the previous plots have been barely believable. This one is within reason and of course, Gamache is irresistible.

Nice diversion submitted by teri on August 2, 2020, 12:07am Yes, Gamache still smells like sandalwood and flaky croissants make an appearance or two. But sometimes the writing feels like filler, the sentences are so clipped that it becomes mildly irritating, and Gamache once again has saint-like qualities. Perhaps I've read too much Louise Penny. I do enjoy her books and would recommend them to anyone looking for a modern "English-cozy type" mystery.

a better story submitted by camelsamba on July 2, 2021, 9:16pm A Better Man? Let's call this A Better Book (especially compared to #13). The Great Man aspects are much diminished in this book; instead, it focuses again on the relationships between Gamache and Beauvoir and Lacoste. We see Beauvoir starting to echo Gamache in word and action, but yet he retains his own personality. The metaphorical elements are stronger again, but not so much pounding you over the head with it. People are not always what they first appear to be - good or bad. Question your initial impressions.

There were things that bothered me, though. First, at a meta level, they all act as though this is the first time they can imagine themselves in the case. "What would you do?" is repeated over and over: from Homer to Armand, Jean-Guy in his own head, etc. But surely this isn't the first time a victim has had similarities to their families! At the level of character and place, it strikes me that Three Pines is supposed to be so isolated and unknown, but yet the village where the crime took place must be very close. Near the end it was going to take Homer "at least 30 minutes" to walk to the suspect's house through dense woods - which works out to what, 2 or 3 kilometers? Big whoop. Then how come nobody knows about Three Pines? In particular, surely the police in that neighboring village would know about it, and know that the former head of the service lived there. And at the truly nitpicky level, lily-of-the-valley does NOT bloom at the same time as snowdrops.

Excellent entry in the Gamache series submitted by vickik on August 18, 2022, 11:24am As catastrophic floods threaten to devastate Québec, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache finds the body of a murdered, pregnant woman. All the evidence points to her abusive husband as the killer, but there's not enough to convict him, and the woman's grieving father threatens to kill the husband. Meanwhile, Gamache faces damage to his reputation in social media, as a video emerges, seriously misrepresenting the actions which led to his demotion.