A reader of the first Armand Gamache novel, 2006's Still Life, can be forgiven for mistaking author Louise Penny for a purveyor of the cozy: that mystery, set in the fictional Quebecois village of Three Pines, features bucolic views, a multigenerational clutch of affectionate-bickering neighbors and abundant comfort food. In Kingdom of the Blind, the series' 14th title, Inspector Gamache can barely enjoy his croissants for all the gunplay and drug dealing going on too close to Three Pines for comfort.
Things begin cozily enough: a notary has contacted Gamache and his Three Pines neighbor Myrna Landers regarding the recent death of Bertha Baumgartner. Named as two of three executors of the Baumgartner estate, Gamache and Landers are befuddled, as neither knew a woman by that name. According to the will, the deceased's three adult children stand to inherit millions--hard for Gamache to fathom when he learns from a Three Pines elder that Baumgartner worked as a cleaning woman.
When one of Baumgartner's children gets whacked, it's Jean-Guy Beauvoir, in the Watson role throughout Penny's series, who handles the case: Gamache, now chief superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, is on suspension following a controversial decision (see Kingdom of the Blind's predecessor, Glass Houses) that brought drugs to nearby city streets. Penny is splendid at meshing the realities of urban life with the warm-and-fuzziness that readers expect of her series, including neighborly repartee over baked goods and an emotionally attuned detective with all the machismo of Mr. Rogers. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer