Mystery
![Louise Penny - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001ILHIVY.jpg)
The Madness of Crowds: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, 17)
Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
AARP The Magazine – Recommended Summer Reading
CNN – A Most Anticipated Book of August
Bustle – A Most Anticipated Book of August
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns to Three Pines in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's latest spellbinding novel
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.
And the madness of crowds.
AARP The Magazine – Recommended Summer Reading
CNN – A Most Anticipated Book of August
Bustle – A Most Anticipated Book of August
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache returns to Three Pines in #1 New York Times bestseller Louise Penny's latest spellbinding novel
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.
And the madness of crowds.
Editorial Reviews
Praise for The Madness of Crowds
"This series has always excelled... This new novel grapples successfully with the moral weight of its narrative… ‘All Will Be Well' never sounded so menacing."
―The New York Times Book Review
"Intelligent and emotionally powerful."
―Wall Street Journal
"The best mysteries and thrillers rise to the level of social novels, presenting readers opportunities to confront the difficult issues we face. Penny's novels have always been driven by this (as well as the love of family and friends). The Madness of Crowds may be one of Penny's darkest works, but we can still find comfort in the natural beauty of Three Pines and the quirky residents we would love to have as our neighbors."
―Washington Post
"Timely and thrilling… faithful readers know that one of Penny's books is less a single-serving crime tale than a full spread of fiction. The mystery may be the main course, but the side dishes ― the food for thought, and the food at the Bistro; the people and their lives and, yes, loves; and certainly the setting itself ― combine to create a full banquet for readers, one liberally seasoned with dry humor. The Madness of Crowds is one of the richest and most satisfying banquets yet."
―St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"The mystery part of the books is always compelling and provides narrative drive, but Penny's books are so rich because she provides real food for thought and gives those thoughts emotional grounding… another brilliant entry."
―Mystery Scene Magazine
"Louise Penny, who in her seventeenth installment in the beloved Armand Gamache series, has tackled COVID and its consequences head-on. The book describes how everyday life in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines has changed while also exploring the threat of a statistician who is using the pandemic data as ammunition for a eugenics program. Plus one for the Canadians."
―CrimeReads
"Penny's optimism about the future shines brightly through Gamache's family and Three Pines, and hopefully will shine into your heart as well."
―BookTrib
"It's easily one of the best mystery novels (or novels of any genre) in recent memory."
―BookPage (Starred Review)
"Provocative… 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."
―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Always a master plotter, Penny brilliantly combines this main story line with a profusion of subplots that bring together multiple interconnected t...
"This series has always excelled... This new novel grapples successfully with the moral weight of its narrative… ‘All Will Be Well' never sounded so menacing."
―The New York Times Book Review
"Intelligent and emotionally powerful."
―Wall Street Journal
"The best mysteries and thrillers rise to the level of social novels, presenting readers opportunities to confront the difficult issues we face. Penny's novels have always been driven by this (as well as the love of family and friends). The Madness of Crowds may be one of Penny's darkest works, but we can still find comfort in the natural beauty of Three Pines and the quirky residents we would love to have as our neighbors."
―Washington Post
"Timely and thrilling… faithful readers know that one of Penny's books is less a single-serving crime tale than a full spread of fiction. The mystery may be the main course, but the side dishes ― the food for thought, and the food at the Bistro; the people and their lives and, yes, loves; and certainly the setting itself ― combine to create a full banquet for readers, one liberally seasoned with dry humor. The Madness of Crowds is one of the richest and most satisfying banquets yet."
―St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"The mystery part of the books is always compelling and provides narrative drive, but Penny's books are so rich because she provides real food for thought and gives those thoughts emotional grounding… another brilliant entry."
―Mystery Scene Magazine
"Louise Penny, who in her seventeenth installment in the beloved Armand Gamache series, has tackled COVID and its consequences head-on. The book describes how everyday life in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines has changed while also exploring the threat of a statistician who is using the pandemic data as ammunition for a eugenics program. Plus one for the Canadians."
―CrimeReads
"Penny's optimism about the future shines brightly through Gamache's family and Three Pines, and hopefully will shine into your heart as well."
―BookTrib
"It's easily one of the best mystery novels (or novels of any genre) in recent memory."
―BookPage (Starred Review)
"Provocative… 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."
―Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Always a master plotter, Penny brilliantly combines this main story line with a profusion of subplots that bring together multiple interconnected t...
Readers Top Reviews
Lynne Benton
I have loved all Louise Penny's "Gamache" books, and have had the last few on pre-order as soon as they were announced. So I read this one as soon as it came out, but it's still in my head. It was wonderful to read of a post-pandemic world in which small details were appreciated, such as being able to hug your friends. But it wasn't surprising that before long other problems arose, most notably the suggestion by a charismatic statistician that those who were ill or disabled should be "euthanised" in order to fund the rest of the population. And anyone having witnessed footage of a certain ex-president whipping up crowds into a frenzy could well imagine such a terrible prospect. Well-named "The Madness of Crowds", I think this is the best of the series so far!
Wendy TurveyLynne
The concept of this Gamache story was very thought provoking - the possible acceptanace of a Government accepting a policy of euthanasia for the elderly, infirm, or even those suffering a deformaty. This taking place just after the country was recovering from the loss of so many of its senior citizens during the pandemic. A policy so similaar to that carried out in Natzi Germany in the late30's and 40's. All taming place in the beautiful Village of Three Pines, in the dead of winter. Lousie Penny's description of the severe cold rings very true - as a child I was evacuated to this part of Canada, and I remember so well my breath freezing, as did the tears I shed ( so homesick ; and wanting my Daddy and my dog) I have read all her Three Pines novels, love the characteres, and await each new one with anticipation = never to be disappointed.
E EvansWendy Turv
Unlike the previous book in the series this one is very much centred around Three Pines where the entire Gamache family are gathered to celebrate Christmas with friends and neighbours. Except Armand and Jean-Guy have been tasked with policing a local talk by a controversial speaker. It’s a book that mixes eugenics, mercy killings and torture, and raises the question what are we prepared to overlook if everyone else is overlooking it too? It’s not quite as dour as I’ve made it sound (thanks largely to all the lovely descriptions of a Christmas customs, scenery and food in Three Pines), although it does take a while to get going. There is a murder which needs to be solved but it almost felt as if the author had dropped the murder in because it was expected in a detective novel and she was really more interested in exploring some of the moral dilemmas that our choices force on us. I did find it an interesting book that raised some uncomfortable questions but I’m not sure I’d have read another book in the series if this was my first introduction to Gamache.
Ronald Hogg E E
I have read all of Louise Penny's books and found only two or three that I wouldn't recommend. The subject matter was reasonable and expected touching on Covid only lightly, but it took them half way through the book of " who do you think did it . Who do you think did it. Who did you think did it " bringing in a most unlikely story involving the Hero of the Sudan. I couldn't wait to finish and skipped chapters as well as pages. Penny's books are expensive and I know that I've said before . "No more" but I mean it this time! An almost complete lack of the atmosphere in the Bistro. Olivier and Gabri also. Said enough?
Jo S. MartinRonal
The pandemic and its aftermath may seem a strange setting for a mystery novel but Penny masterfully weaves the threads of current issues with personal choices for Gamache, Beauvoir and the Three Pines family. This book is, as always, about letting love lead us to the right decisions. There is a wonderful mixture of suspense, humor and tears throughout. I read it without stopping. It is that good.
