The Madness of Crowds

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

"The next novel in the Chief Inspector Gamache series"-- Provided by publisher
"You're a coward." Time and again, as the New Year approaches, that charge is leveled against Armand Gamache. While the residents of the Quebec 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 Surete du Quebec 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 nearly impossible to tell them apart. Discussions become debates, debates become arguments. 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

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Excellent submitted by rats on March 14, 2022, 5:51pm I wish my friends who don''t like crime novels would read Penny's series. Complex and gorgeous, her characters are poets and artists and live in a small community filled with humurous kindness. It's not a romance series, yet expression and feelings of love are there throughout each novel. This novel takes place as the covid pandemic ends. People are coming out of their homes and socializing in person again. Then a dangerous idea -- a form of eugenics -- raises its head again.

Another three and three quarters - Interesting book submitted by leea on August 21, 2022, 1:29pm I have read all her Three Pines novels, love the characteres, and await each new one with anticipation = never to be disappointed.

Repetitive submitted by Susan C on September 10, 2022, 1:26pm Instead of being suspensful, the same topics get repeated and repeated.
This could have been half the length it is and gotten the point across.
OK read, but wondered if I read some parts 4 times.

A Difficult Read submitted by hiker15 on October 6, 2022, 11:04am This was my least favorite of her books. It was hard to get through it.

Preachy submitted by camelsamba on July 17, 2023, 4:27pm This is another one of Penny’s “issue” books - but she suppresses the details of the big controversial issue until deep into the story, and doesn’t really examine it deeply.

Not very engaging submitted by pratibhamahesh on July 28, 2023, 7:17am Run of the mill story., lacked a strong punch in the storyline.