Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny #review

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny

Genre: mystery

Publisher: Minotaur

Publication Date: 2018

Summary

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, still suspended from duty, has received a letter summoning him to an abandoned farmhouse. There he learns that he is an executor of the estate of one Bertha Baumgartner. His friend Myrna and a young builder named Benedict are also named as executors. Yet none had known Baumgartner.

The will is bizarre: it leaves millions of dollars to her children (though she obviously was not a multimillionaire), requests the sales of buildings in Vienna and elsewhere, and passes a royal title to her eldest son. She also preferred to be called “Baroness.” Was this woman delusional? It seems likely. But what if she wasn’t?

Then there’s a murder. Could the terms of this will be behind this death?

Gamache has more than this to investigate. Six months ago, he had made a decision to allow a deadly opiod to pass over the Canadian border. That drug is still out there. No one knows where it is or what drug cartel is preparing to release it.

But it’s powerful. Stronger than heroin. Deadly. It could decimate the addicts on the streets of Montreal. Addicts like Amelia Choquet, the former junkie-turned-Surete-cadet, one of Gamache’s mentees. Only now she’s on the streets again, a junkie looking for her next big fix.

Can she lead Gamache to the new drug–or will she die in the process?

My thoughts:

It took me a while to warm up to this novel. Even fifty or sixty pages in, I was uncertain whether I wanted to continue reading. This might be reading burn-out rather than a fault of the book; I don’t know. But around page 100, things picked up and I enjoyed the rest of the story.

What I enjoyed:

A sense of community.

Honestly, I don’t read Penny’s novels for the mystery. I don’t care one iota who killed whom. It’s the relationships between the characters that matters to me. I think many passionate Penny fans would agree that we love the sense of community in these books, and we love feeling included in that community of Three Pines, with its endearing, imperfect, and quirky inhabitants. We feel like we belong.

The depth of the relationships

Like all long-term relationships, there’s a history that lies under the surface of all the actions and dialogue. The banter feels natural and genuinely affectionate. But it might be difficult for those new to the series to jump in and understand the subtext, written over years of relationships, that under-girds the group dialogues.

Can you read Kingdom of the Blind as a stand-alone?

Good question.

This novel directly builds on what happened in a previous novel that led to Gamache’s suspension from the Surete. Unless you read previous novels, it might be difficult to understand why Gamache made the choices he did, and why he’s making the choices he’s making now. You won’t understand the relationship between Gamache and Amelia Choquet, either.

However, this aspect is only part of the novel. There’s the actual will/murder/whodunit aspect, too. Those new to the series can still enjoy that. Just be aware that there’s a long history behind Gamache’s suspension.

This is another solid book in a terrific series. It’s not my favorite–that’s a toss-up between Bury Your Dead, The Beautiful Mystery, or How the Light Gets In–but it’s still really good. I was worried that Penny wouldn’t write anymore Gamache mysteries after her husband’s recent death, and as she writes in the acknowledgments, she thought she couldn’t either. He was the inspiration for Gamache; he was also a partner in her work. Yet eventually, she wrote Kingdom of the Blind, “Not because I had to, but with joy. Because I wanted to.” (pg 387).

I have to say, I have read many, many acknowledgments sections in books. Most express thanks. A few express entitlement or arrogance. (Those authors are, thank goodness, in the minority!) Yet few express as much gratitude, thanksgiving, and joy as Louise Penny. This sense of joy imbues her work. I’m grateful to have found her books.

This review also appears on Goodreads and Bookbub.