Genre: Book
Grade: A-
Notable People: Louise Penny
Title: The Madness of Crowds
Review: Penny continues to put out one brilliant Armand Gamache mystery after another. This is her 2021 published book chronicling the effects of the Pandemic and post-pandemic life is Quebec. As usual the mystery is world influencing, the characters are beyond brilliant and the settings sublime. Who would not want to live in Three Pines…well, maybe if you are squeamish about small village murders. Gamache remains one of the best characters in my reading history-a philosopher and reflector for the ages. As usual the boo includes some very real historical references that will shock you. I struggled a bit with her projected (maybe Pollyanna) projection of the pandemic being fully resolved by a wiling populace being fully vaccinated and there no longer being any threat (life fully normalized)- but maybe, that’s just Canadian? I parse these books out periodically to hopefully never quite catch up with the end. Great reads; you’ll want to be off to Quebec this winter.