The latest instalment of the Armand Gamache series doesn't disappoint. This book is bang up to date with current affairs in a time of Covid and hard moral questions. You don't have to have read the other books in Penny's Gamache series although I'd recommend going back to the first book just for the sheer enjoyment of the characters you will meet.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for ARC.

This is my first book by this Author - the book makes several mentions of past incidences which would make reading the previous books to better set the characters in place .

Set in post pandemic Canada where statistics are being used to set the agenda of survival - Inspector Armand Gamache protects lives when shots are fired at a talk by controversial Professor Abigail Robinson .
But when shortly afterwards , on New Year's eve , a friend of Abigail's is murdered is it a case of mistaken identity?
With many suspects in the pot Inspector Gamache has plenty to choose from - are there links to a series of deaths in the past , will more deaths be forthcoming ?

This is a fast paced thriller , with many twists and turns which I thoroughly enjoyed .
I will certainly be reading the previous books in the series .

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I haven't read any other books in this series and whilst it did stand alone as a story it kept referring to what had happened in the past. It deals with highly emotive issues which through Covid I think we have all been aware; look after the sick and elderly or sacrifice them to save others. Abigail is an academic who is gaining a following supporting the ideals of looking after the young and healthy. Her aide and close friend is murdered. Was it mistaken identity? Fast paced book which makes you think.

A mystery set in Canada post pandemic. Still reeling from the aftermath of untimely deaths, lockdown, fear and uncertainty a scientist believes she has the answer to the crippling economic and financial burden facing the country. A population not yet recovered from the maelstrom of recent events ; many begin to accept the statistics quoted as fact and putting ethics aside are prepared to consider the unthinkable. A escalating wave of support is engineered through large scale rallies which inevitably attract both sides of the argument. In a gym housed in a university in a small community an attempted assassination takes place forming the beginning of a convoluted plot mired in past atrocities, family tragedies, and complex relationships. A prescient assumption of where the results of the pandemic could lead : into uncharted waters in order to regain financial stability in a world where stability has become non existent. Excellent in-depth characterisation of three dimensional individuals struggling to do the right thing whilst contemplating inconceivable choices. Descriptions of a frozen landscape alongside warm close families and friends embracing a life after the pandemic whilst dealing with a potential murderer in their midst involves a conundrum that appears impossible to resolve until the final denouncement. A five star read that raised many moral issues alongside a mystery covering several decades waiting to be solved. Many thanks to Author, Publisher and NetGalley for this ARC of this thought provoking book which I was unable to put down from beginning to end.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache protects lives when shots are fired at a talk by Abigail Robinson. The pandemic may be over but statistics are being used to fuel extreme views on forced euthanasia.

Brilliant book that covers complicated issues and reveals that event from the past can affect the present. Enjoy.

An excellent read and addition to this series. Well devised plot and characters. A book for the moment in time we find ourselves. Thoroughly enjoyed it

Mystery and suspense throughout which make you question your own thoughts about right and wrong. Are statisticians really to be believed?

This is the first book I have read by this author and I did feel that I missed out by not knowing the characters and their various 'foibles'. It was a slow to start book and although I did finish it, I found I could easily have put it down. The plot had a lot of promise but for me it did not live up to expectations.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advance copy of this book.

I am a huge fan of Louise Penny but I approached this book with trepidation. My husband who had an underlying health condition died in January 2021, my Godaughter has Downs. However, I needed have worried, yes it was gruelling but it is meant to be. Such is the skill, sensitivity and depth of her writing that I became carried away, consumed by the happenings in Three Pines and the investigation of Armand Gamache. I am in awe of her talent. I would recommend this book unreservedly. It is thrilling, challenging and a real old fashioned who dunnit. It is her best yet. No spoilers.

A controversial professor is invited to lecture at a Quebec university campus. The is a failed attempt on her life during the lecture. In a small village nearby on New Years Eve her friend and companion is bludgeoned to death. Why? Was it in mistake for the professor? Chief inspector Gamache is on the case and several of the suspects are long term neighbours and friends. He soon realises there are links to the distant past and a series of deaths long ago.... Its a complex and compelling plot and you won't know whodunit until the end.

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny captures life post pandemic with a twist. The book explores societal strategies based on lessons learned in getting through the pandemic to ensure long term survival. Uncomfortable and all too plausible in light of anti-Vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and proponents of accepting the survival of the fittest. Louise handles the persuasive arguments very well and skilfully portrays a charismatic manipulative public speaker/influencer. She weaves a very disturbing storyline of human exploitation in the bane of science alongside family and community ties. This excellent book took over my day and I just couldn’t put it Tuen, wanting to see his it played out and basically whodunnit! The characters were very well developed and credible. An excellent read Four stars

This is my first read of this author, with thanks for an ARC from publisher and Netgalley. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and loved. the characters. Will definitely read other books by this author.

This is my first book by this author and I very much enjoyed the lovely flowing writing, at times it feels almost poetic in style.
The story is set on a post Covid world which I found quite reassuring in a way, the storyline is captivating and also menacing, the setting of a university lecture at the start made me uneasy, it had an eerie feeling and you are waiting for something chilling to happen!
The premise of such divisive views such as those being put forward by Abigail is original and interesting, in a time of social media and a world where extreme views are now widely touted (sometimes horrifyingly so) and makes you examine how you feel and what you would do put n the characters' shoes, it leaves you thinking about the book whilst not reading it. I also very much liked the character of Gamache.
Very well written and original.

A very well written mystery full of secrets and lies. Set post Covid pandemic it examines how we are influenced by what we have experienced and our morality. What choices would you make?
Very descriptive characters bring the story to life and of course Inspector Gamache and his team solve the murder.

I am an absolute fan of Louise Penny and was looking forward to reading this one.

It did not disappoint, though I don't think it was as good as All the Devils are Here. In this story, we are in a post-covid world where people are struggling with the aftermath of the pandemic and its consequences. Armand and his team find themselves protecting a controversial lecturer. When the murders start, it's impossible to know why they are happening and the killer is, of course, elusive.

There's the lovely backdrop of Christmas celebrations in Three Pines, as they struggle to contain the ever growing circle of suspects and potential targets. Armand's family are pulled in to this one, which I liked and one of his grandchildren is at risk. The author makes wonderful links with the crimes and Gamache's personal feelings for his family members, and his beloved friends. People take sides, either agreeing or disagreeing with the lecturer's extreme ideas. There's a dark secret from the past which gets thrown in to muddy the waters.

Overall, this is another great read with an original plot. My only small dislike was the addition of one too many crazy characters.

This was such an intelligent enjoyable murder mystery with many philosophical debates at its heart. This is the 17th novel in the series about Chief Inspector Armand Gamache but the first one I had ever read. I felt I could read it as a standalone but I enjoyed it so much I'd like to read the others in the series.
Set in Quebec, Canada, just after Christmas, in the village of Three Pines a talk by a controversial Professor of Statistics, Abigail Robinson, at a local university really pushes Gamache to question everything he believes in. The pandemic has ended and no one has been left untouched by the isolaton, fear and death due to Covid. The pandemic is dealt with really well not sentimental or placing blame just exploring peoples reaction to the aftermath. Robinson has very controversial views and the novel explores the question of free speech, morality, the role of the police, disability, fatherhood and trauma. Gamache is a really good character and I enjoyed his internal crisis as he tries to solve a crime and recognise his bias and emotions. I could not put this novel down.

Excellent addition to the Gamache series. I have read all the books in this series and always eagerly await the next. This one takes the unusual step of setting in the post pandemic world, which is a bold step given how raw and recent those events are for many of us. I am grateful to Ms Penny for not glossing over or ignoring what we have all been through in reality and weaving this into her book. I really enjoyed this further adventure with these well loved characters.t is a great book and I continue to be in awe of this authors talent and imagination.

For admirers of Louise Penny another Gamache novel is something to look forward. This one is not quite “as normal” as Penny admits she was reflecting on the impact of Covid on people and their behaviour. So this will refer to that time, but Penny never does “simple” crime it inevitably has a deeper social and moral dimension. The story will start with Gamache and his family in Three Pines for the Christmas and New Year celebrations. There too will be seen the whole suite of the village residents (introduced before) gathering together but also reflecting on the impact of the year – and welcoming a new daughter born to Gamache’s daughter and son-in-law Jean Guy. A “celebrity” visitor will need to be welcomed in spite of her less than comfortable behaviour. In spite of the positive there are hints that things are not quite well in the world. Gamache is working on a confidential investigation – it will turn out to be on the cases of elderly people being abandoned to die in Care Homes during the pandemic.
He will be summoned in the meantime to “police” a public talk to be held in a local university building just before New Year. He has supposedly been selected as he is “local” and asked for. But things will soon turn very toxic. It appears that the academic speaker, an economist, had been commissioned to prepare a report on the recovery of the economy post Covid. The report had been first officially shelved and then leaked on the internet where it is going viral. It then becomes clear that she had recommended that in support the “new post-covid recovery” that older and physically disabled others should be euthanized. She had thereby created a huge virulently divisive political battle. In effect a “small local” talk is evolving it to a much larger and infinitely more controversial event and movement. The speaker is coming to international prominence.
Gamache is responsible for policing this “quiet” event as things start to escalate. None of the senior University staff will act to prevent the talk going ahead – in the face of increasingly virulent demands of “rights of free speech” few would now dare. Gamache begins to wonder who arranged this talk and what their agenda might have been. During the (far from quiet) talk there is a shooting incident and this will have to be investigated and prosecuted. Meanwhile the lecturer is unrepentant and insists in coming to the Three Pines New Year celebrations. A killing will follow.
This novel explores family and community and how people deal with differing opinions. Mass euthanasia is not a happy thing to discuss; as most people would regard it as totally unacceptable, until of course it happens in their own back yard. Others are perfectly prepared to allow it happen by either the front or back door. But in Covid times when there are already discussions of personal “freedoms” against the safety of others in the community it becomes worryingly closer. For Gamache’s family too there is another message as their new baby has Down’s syndrome – and her parents had been offered the chance to medically terminate the pregnancy. What is the difference between thinking of this as a possibility and actually doing it? Who have possible “mercy killings” hidden in their family‘s past? A sub plot (and community secrets) will also emerge of medical research in the past that left women severely damaged and through research a few otherwise silenced local “survivors” will be identified. This tale, like life itself is not simple or single stranded.
But around this is the classic Penny novel. One that discusses the importance of family, friends and community. Life can be long and the impact of family actions even longer. Through the eyes of the Gamache family you should not expect others to be perfect, but hope that most will live with compassion and kindness. A person has to live through the life they are given and that is not always comfortable, but essentially the important thing is how you choose to live it and how you treat other people in both good and bad times. Are the crimes depicted here likely? – Worryingly they maybe as Penny always speaks to the moral issues of the time. No doubt living in Canada can make one mightily worried at the wide and aggressive political divergences appearing in her neighbours to the south. But then crime novels do not have to be soft, even wrapped in depictions of close community, they can ask hard questions of the reader.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of The Madness of Crowds, the seventeenth novel to feature Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté de Quebec.

Gamache is asked to provide security at a lecture by statistics professor Abigail Robinson. “Why?” he wonders until he learns what she will be discussing, an idea that is gaining support all the time, that society cannot financially support all its inhabitants and the logical conclusion to that conundrum. A few days later a body is found and Gamache has to investigate the strong feelings Abigail Robinson and her feelings evoke.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Madness of Crowds, which is an engrossing and thought provoking read with plenty of permutations. To be honest, not much happens in the novel, there is a crowd disturbance at the lecture, a murder and a tense denouement and, yet, I couldn’t put it down because it’s all about the personalities, human nature and more broadly humanity. I found it riveting because the author has a keen eye for people and a strong understanding of what makes them tick so, time after time I was captivated by her acute observations and apt applications.

The title refers to a book that tries to explain mass delusion and how obvious falsehoods or faulty reasoning become accepted as truth in certain segments of the population, no matter how outrageous. The obvious example in real time is American politics, but here the author uses forced euthanasia and eugenics as her example, inspired, no doubt, by the madness of herd immunity theory. Abigail Robinson’s theories provoke a wider debate in the novel about death, murder, unforced euthanasia and family love. It’s fascinating and made me really think about it, offering so much more to the debate than I had ever thought of.

That’s the background that informs the plot, which, at a basic level, consists of interviews, theorising about who had a motive and uncovering a good few secrets about a monstrous event in Canada’s past. I had no idea who the killer was, couldn’t hazard a guess and was totally hooked on every twist and turn.

I loved The Madness of Crowds for the way it made me think and the way it delivers some universal truths. I don’t feel that I have done justice to the way the author effortlessly links her novel to real life while making it fun with her quirky characters and the village that doesn’t appear on maps. I have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.

I read this in the bath, in bed and under my desk in the office. I loved it. There is something so beautiful about the way this book is written that, whilst the topic makes you so uncomfortable, it keeps you turning the pages late into the night, The ending keeps you guessing all the way through, and every time you think you have solved the murder before Gamache, you discover you are still miles away.
Post pandemic world, stats are reviewed and the premise that for the survival of the nations, some believe it would be better to concentrate resources on the fittest and the strongest- essentially ending the lives of those who are unwell and frail. This idea takes root and along with the idea comes murder,