This month’s author highlight is about the Canadian superstar Louise Penny, who has written the world-famous Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. This series has some of the best character storylines I have ever read. By the end of the first book in the series, you feel like Gamache is a friend, a confidant, and the person you’d want inspecting your murder. Below, you will find Louise Penny’s books, learn about the series characters, and see how you can order these books.
Should you read Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series in order?
I recommend reading the Inspector Gamache series in order since many of the characters’ storylines evolve through each book. The relationships or connections between the characters in each Louise Penny book is typically a slow burn to a greater story.
What is the Inspector Gamache Series about?
The series follows Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, who travels to Three Pines, an hour from Montreal, to investigate a murder. Each story follows Gamache as he investigates the secrets, rumors, and murders in the small town. Through each story, you learn more about the characters’ back stories, their secret feeling about one another, and the creative ways Gamache and his investigative team insert themselves into the community.
What is the order of the Louise Penny Inspector Gamache novels?
- Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A Fatal Grace Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- The Cruelest Month Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A Rule Against Murder Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A Brutal Telling Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- Bury Your Dead Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A Trick of the Light Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- The Beautiful Mystery Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- How the Light Gets In Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A Long Way Home Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- Nature of the Beast Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A Great Reckoning Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- Glass Houses Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- Kingdom of the Blind Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A Better Man Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- All the Devils Are Here Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- The Madness of Crowds Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- A World of Curiosities Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- The Grey Wolf Paperback | Audiobook | Kindle
- The Black Wolf (Coming October 2025)
How does the Inspector Gamache series start?
The series starts on a Thanksgiving weekend when a dead body is discovered in the woods of Three Pines. Three Pines is a picturesque small town just outside of Montreal, and it has so little crime that the town doesn’t have a police force. Gamache and his team arrive and begin to investigate the murder of well-loved artist Jane Neal.
Is the Inspector Gamache Series good for book clubs?
I would read the first book in a book club and then allow members to read the rest of the series at leisure. The first book is unique in how the characters are developed, how the murder unfolds, and how the secrets rise to the surface and make people’s alibis seem more implausible.
What other mystery series should you read?
So many great series and writers make the murder mystery genre fun to read, like Lucy Foley, a creative and fabulous mystery writer. My favorite of hers is The Guest List. I can’t say anything about it, or I’ll give it away, but she might have the best audiobooks in the mystery genre.
The Maid by Nita Prose is another great series, especially if you want a mystery comedy series. Lastly, I recommend the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French. It is excellent. Every book is from a different detective’s perspective, but they are all connected.
Try authors like Abby Jimenez, Mariana Zapata, or Graeme Simson if you want something lighter!
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