Kingdom of the Blind: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel

“In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." Erasamus AdagiaChief Inspector Gamache receives a curious letter from a notary asking him to a meeting in an abandoned farm house near 3 Pines. His curiosity is piqued when he learns that his friend Myrna, the local book store owner and a retired psychologist, has received the same invitation. Another young man, Benedict is also in attendance. They have all been named “Liquidators” of the will of a now deceased woman, Bertha Baumgartner a/k/a "the Baroness”, whom no one seems to have known.None of the deceased's 3 adult children are listed as a Liquidator, although each will receive an equal share of the estate. However, there is one small glitch… it seems that the deceased does not actually own the money or the property. Rather, it has become a part of family lore, passed on from generation to generation on both sides of years of a family battle, Baumgartners vs Kinderoth. "You can’t erase the past. It’s trapped in there with you. But you can make peace with it. If you don’t,’ he said, ‘you’ll be at perpetual war.’”Shortly after the announcement of the named Liquidators, the family farmhouse collapses and the eldest child, Anthony, is found dead inside. Is an intra-family battle taking place as well?The books in this series are terrific and they keep getting better and better. For maximum enjoyment I recommend reading them in order. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

These books just keep giving.Love Louise Penny's writing. Delightful characters and the plots are intriguing. Looking forward to more of Amelia.

Love this series! On book 6 right now. If you like murder mysteries and series that keep a lot of the same characters, then you’ll love these!

Stayed rained in during a camping trip, cozily tucked in to my covers with this book. How I admire the curve of this author’s pen. I’m not sure, but as I looked out the window of our camper, I believe we were nestled under three pines:)

Louise Penny did not disappoint with the Kingdom of the Blind. Many plot twists and turns. The one constant is that you continue to root for these wonderful characters. Lovely story.

I have been enthralled about Armand Balance since book #1. I can't wait for the next one! Louise Penny is a very gifted writer who takes you on a ride with every story she tells!

Armand Gamache, former head of the Surete du Quebec, receives a letter from a notary, asking him to come to a farmhouse about 20 minutes from Gamache’s village of Three Pines. Once there, he discovers that Myrna Landers, owner of the bookstore in the village, has received the same letter. As has a young man from Montreal, a building contractor. The notary explains that they have been asked to be executors of a will of a woman known as “the Baroness.”The Baroness has left millions in capital and real estate to her three children. The problem is that the Baroness was a cleaning lady, who had not amassed anything close to the sizeable fortune cited in the will. Her three adult children have heard the stories – a family feud buried under longstanding litigation that goes back to 19th century Vienna and has somehow survived the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the confiscation by the Nazis. The litigation is still ongoing, but is there any fortune left?Then the Baroness’s oldest son is found dead. What at first appears to be an accident turns out to be murder, and Gamache and his son-in-law (and chief of homicide) Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves investigating financial management firms, old Austrian wills, and what looks to be a very contemporary case of fraud.Gamache has another issue on his hands. A dead form of fentanyl is about to hit the streets of Montreal. It is the drug supply that Gamache has allowed into the country in the previous novel, Glass Houses, to break up a huge drug supply ring. But some of the drugs disappeared, and the Surete is undertaking an internal investigation of Gamache with the end of destroying him. Gamache has to find the drugs before a disaster of death hits the streets.“Kingdom of the Blind” by Canadian mystery writer Louise Penny is the 14th in the Armand Gamache series, and it maintains Penny’s consistently high quality of work. The reader is hooked into the story from the outset, and the story just won’t let go.Penny is a master of characterization. She helps us crawl inside her characters’ heads, and it is from there that we watch each new development unfold. And the regular cast of characters from Three Pines make their contributions to the story (and the case being investigated), especially crazy poet Ruth Zardo, artist Clara Morrow, and Ruth’s duck Rosa. At the center of the drug case is Amelia Choquet, the former prostitute and all-around bad girl that Gamache recruited for the police academy and who’s been dismissed (and almost arrested) for drug possession.And it wouldn’t be a Gamache novel without snow. A lot of snow.“Kingdom of the Blind” has a kind of valedictory feel to it. Penny explains in an afterword that she didn’t think she would write another Gamache novel after the death of her husband. The way the novel ends, it could be the last, if Penny so decides.Or perhaps not. We hope.

Ho does she do it? Louise Penny has a remarkable gift for writing and after finishing a number of her rich stories (with amazing characters), I was still astonished at the surprise ending of this one. These Detective Gamache mysteries are the absolute best!

Louise Penny e seu Gamache são sempre uma boa ideia. Uma delícia voltar para Three Pines e passar um tempo com seus personagens tão cheios de nuances e suas tramas surpreendentes. Que bom que ela decidiu continuar a série: que venham mais!

I have followed the Gamache books avidly since discovering them two years ago, and I have gobbled them up despite the frequently poor writing and abysmal grammar. But the previous books pale in comparison to the egregious treatment of the English language found here, in Kingdom of the Blind, where you will struggle to find a complete sentence amongst pages and pages of fragments. Short phrases. Two or three words. Never knowing. What's coming next. Or why you're reading. When actually. You feel. Seasick. Plot is nearly forgotten. Because. You can't actually get. To what's coming. Next.WHERE IS THE EDITOR???

I have just finished reading this latest tale about Armand Gamache & the village of Three Pines. From the first page it felt as though I was home again in welcoming familiar territory. There were dual storylines to follow, the first being Gamache, Myrna & a stranger Benedict meeting at a rundown farm house finding they were all executors of a strangers will. The second was a continuation from the previous book with the search for drugs that had gone missing. I tried very hard to pace myself reading this book, trying not to sit down to read it from cover to cover in one go. It may not have been ‘fast paced’ like some crime novels but it was fantastically intriguing. I can honestly say I loved every page. I would highly recommend Louise Penny’s books & I think they are better read in order.(I did read book 6 ‘Bury your dead’ first but then bought 1 to 5 before reading book 6 again! The rest of the series I have read in order & all have been read more than once)

I love Three Pines and have followed the series from the first. This was a continuation of Glass Houses, which had been darker than Louise Penny's previous books, but this is the darkest yet. The books are always cleverly written and deal with very real possibilities that COULD JUST happen. In Glass Houses Gamache, the gentle, honest man, takes control of a deadly situation and uses his authority to do "right" while doing harm to some.. in this book he tries to undo some of the harm, but it means we see the irreparable damage done to addicts by narcotics . (Louise Penny has dealt with this subject before ... Jean Guy fought his demons in previous books etc) There is another story-line which has us guessing as to why the two Three Pine neighbours and a young man have been chosen as executors of a stranger's will, which is nicely done, but for me the overall darkness of the search for the missing drugs is what effects me most. Actually "Well Done Louise!" your creation of those scenes did work... I lived through a bad time .. but I did not enjoy it.. and as I read to enjoy the escape to Three Pines I was hurt! A bit like when you had Peter sent off and what happened to him .. I liked Peter, damage and all!!! I know I'll keep reading them if you keep writing them!!

I have read the whole Gamache series and eagerly await each new instalment. I have never been disappointed and this story was no exception. The characters were familiar friends, as was Three Pines which has been so vividly draw over the years that I can picture it effortlessly. It would have been difficult, but not impossible, to follow the plot if you had not read the previous book. It is definitely worth starting at the beginning of the whole series.