tamaranth | 2026/036: A Great Reckoning

2026/036: A Great Reckoning — Louise Penny

“Not every mystery is a crime,” said the Commander. “But every crime starts as a mystery." [p. 76]

Gamache has come out of retirement to take the role of Commander at the Sûreté Academy, which has lately been turning out new police officers who are aggressive, brutal and not up to Gamache's standards. He has to root out the source of the corruption, which -- in typical Gamache style -- he does by keeping on some known troublemakers on the staff, and recruiting his old friend-turned-nemesis Michel Brébeuf as another teacher. Of course everything goes swimmingly, until one member of staff is murdered.

The focus shifts to a group of four young cadets, who have been previously tasked to work together on solving the mystery of a century-old map found in the wall of the Three Pines bistro. The map shows Three Pines, but also includes a snowman and a pyramid: and it also appears on a stained-glass window at the chapel, tucked into the rucksack of a young soldier heading off to fight in the Great War. Curiously, one of the cadets has lost her copy of the map ... which turned up in the murder victim's room. And the cadet sans map is Amanda, to whom Gamache seems to have some mysterious connection...

I mostly read these for the characters, and the vignettes of life in Three Pines, and Gamache's essential goodness and gnomic utterances (not to mention his habit of concealing his plans until they come to fruition). There were some lovely scenes in this novel, and some excellent clues, including a reference to a scene in The Deer Hunter. A pleasing, calming, engrossing read that felt like a brief holiday from reality.