Excellent story. The last 2 weeks of Jean Guy?s career as Chief Inspector and the 1st 2 weeks of Armand?s as the replacement for when Jean Guy leaves. Puglishers Weekly Review: Bestseller Penny?s wrenching 15th novel featuring Chief Insp. Armand Gamache (after 2018?s Kingdom of the Blind) finds Gamache, former chief superintendent of the S?ret? du Qu?bec, returning to work after a nine-month suspension and demotion, and reporting to his own his son-in-law and one-time prot?g?, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. When the body of Vivienne Godin, 25 and pregnant, is found in a river near Three Pines, trapped in the debris of a violent spring flood, Gamache and Beauvoir are sure that she was killed by her drunken, abusive, supremely unlikable husband, Carl Tracey. But knowing who did it and proving it are two different things. After an exhaustive investigation, the detectives build a convincing circumstantial case against Tracey. But a shocking twist forces Gamache to look at the evidence anew. With an uncompromising eye, Penny explores the depths of human emotion, both horrifying and sublime. Her love for her characters and for the mystical village of Three Pines is apparent on every page. Agent: Teresa Chris, Teresa Chris Literary. (Aug.)

(2019) Penny is the best. What a joy to read her next book. Jean Guy is prepared to head to Paris for his new job. Garmand is unsure of what he will do with his future. Then a woman dies falling into a flooded river outside of Three Pines. Her death seems to lead to her abusive husband, everyone is convince he has done it. Especially the woman's father Homer. He is intent on vengeance as he is heart broken with Vivienne's death. Garmand, Jean Guy and his cohorts strive to prove the murder but it leads back to Homer who himself was abusive to his daughter. Turns out he was responsible for Vivienne's death and tries to punish both her husband and himself by throwing them both into the same river. Homer is not saved, but we almost lose Jean-Guy who tries to save Homer at the last second. In the end, Jean-Guy and Annie head for Paris, Garmand is back as chief superintendent and Isabelle LaCoste is now his new right-hand. Also Bob Cameron, former Montreal Alouette, looks like he will be a new ongoing character as I await the latest book in this great series. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ROBERT CROANPittsburgh Post-Gazette AUG 25, 2019 8:00 AMThe teaser for ?A Better Man,? Louise Penny's 15th novel about crime in the fictional Quebec town of Three Pines, promises ?a deeper mystery, a darker current.??What would you do if � your child's killer might walk free?? is the question posed. Sounds provocative, but it's not a particularly profound question, with answers that should not be hard to predict. That's a major problem with ?A Better Man? ¥ the book promises far more than it fulfills."A BETTER MAN"By Louise PennyMinotaur Books ($28.99).Another problem is that her recurring cast of eccentric supporting characters is becoming tiresome. ?A Better Man? is a good read, but it's not on the level (and far more pretentious) than this author's best earlier works.Two novels back, at the end of ?Glass Houses,? the series' hero, Armand Gamache of the Surete, made an unauthorized decision to allow shipment of a dangerous new drug from the United States to Canada. It was part of a strategy to trap the higher-up suppliers, and it worked.His effort prevented the drug from hitting the streets of Quebec, saving many lives, but the politicians got hold of it, used Gamache for their own purposes and demonized him for ¥ among other things ¥ bad judgment and insubordination. As a result, he was demoted from chief superintendent to chief inspector in charge of homicide.Now, he is being demonized by anonymous Twitter posts: How can they let that murderer back in the Surete? #losingallrespectWhen Gamache does go back to the Surete, newer members of the force are prepared to deride him, but his personal dignity and mature demeanor command their respect despite their prejudices.It complicates matters that Gamache's previous second-in-command, Guy Beauvoir ¥ who happens to be his son-in-law ¥ is now temporarily of the same rank. Beauvoir, however, has chosen to leave the Surete for a corporate job in Paris, where he will take Gamache's daughter and their young son with him.Guy would like to solve one last major case before he leaves. Such a case comes up when a young officer, Lisette Cloutier, reports that an acquaintance of hers has reported his daughter missing. The young woman hasn't been missing long, and her abusive husband denies that anything is wrong, but it's not long before the woman's body turns up in the Riviere Bella Bella.It's winter in Quebec, there's a storm and great flooding: the worst storm in more than a century, with dams in danger of collapsing and Montreal, as one character puts it, in danger of floating into Vermont. Ms. Penny is very successful in bringing this aspect to life:?Until the day, the villagers had considered the Bella Bella a friendly, gentle presence. It would never hurt them. Now it was as though someone they thought they knew well, someone they loved and trusted, had turned on them. The ice floes  were crashing together  forcing huge shards of ice to jut out. A frost quake was tearing toward the bridge. Gamache took a couple of deep breaths. Trying not to close his eyes. Trying not to flinch.? This scene inspires some of the author's most colorful, vivid prose.Less convincing is the book's depiction of the dead woman's father's headstrong attempts to kill his son-in-law, whom everyone presumes (without proof) to be the murderer. The psychology is sophomoric, and Gamache's decision to coerce the father to stay in his own house (to protect the father from himself) is implausible.Even more implausible is an extraneous subplot about one of the recurring characters, a local artist named Clara Morrow. ?Talented, not yet discovered? in the early novels, she has become internationally successful. Her insightful portraits of outre subjects sell for top dollar prices, but she has decided to delve into new territory and paint a sequence of miniatures. Social media does not approve: What's happened to Clara Morrow? She used to be a great artist. #MorrowSucksIn her insecurity, Clara calls on the art critic of an influential online journal, Domenica Oddly, for advice. Oddly comes to Quebec from Brooklyn, ?dressed in ... harem pants, with combat boots and a T-shirt that read YES, HE'S A RACIST. She had an eye for the avant-garde, an ear for undercurrents  and a savant's gift for social media.? It's not hard to imagine that this flamboyant young woman will be heard from again in future installments.Robert Croan is a Post-Gazette senior editor.

I really enjoy this series and this book was no exception. Another enjoyable read from Louise Penny. ( )

I am always glad to get back to Three Pines. This wasn't my favorite in the series. There seemed to be a lot of complication thrown in and resolved toward the end to add a few pages. I did enjoy a brief update on the political situation at the Surete. And so far I've never regretted reading in this series. ( )

I was SO disappointed by this book. I have loved this series, and have been looking forward to "A Better Man" for months, and it was just such a let-down.

Her writing style seemed to change, and this book is filled with sentences. Broken up. Into multiple sentences. For no reason. So, so many sentence fragments. I do that occasionally, in texts, to emphasize a point, but doing it constantly throughout the book makes the technique lose all sense of emphasis and just gets really annoying.

Also (and this is maybe just me?), some of the story line just didn't make sense. Yes, having a young woman who's pregnant get abused and then killed is terrible, but it is not remotely the most terrible thing that these cops have seen. And yet, they all immediately take it personally and see it as something so horrible that they are unable to be unbiased. It just didn't seem to be in character.

It was a fine book. If I hadn't read any of her other books, I would probably have not been as annoyed and disappointed. I just expected so much more. ( )