A Great Reckoning by Luise Penny (2016)

I think that inspector Armand Gamache has become the fictional character I would most like to meet and Three Pines the village I would most like to visit, stay at the B&B, eat at the cafe, visit the bookstore, meet cranky Ruth and her duck and all the other characters, and hang in the kindness of the place and Penny's world.

If I had the time, I would go through all the Louise Penny books I have read so far and see how she weaves the major plot line of the corruption of the Surete du Quebec throughout many books. In the ninth book How the Light Gets In, it all comes to a head and Armand gets injured. He spends a couple of books recuperating. One I read a while ago about a local boy finding a gun, but the last one I read - The Long Way Home was when he helps Clara look for her estranged husband Peter. But now he is ready to take on a new project - cleaning up the Academy for the Surete, as it has been producing cruel, uncaring agents in the last years. He starts by firing half the instructors, but keeps on the second in command, Leduc, hoping to gather evidence to put him away and prevent him from harming any more cadets.

We get to see the evolution of four cadets - two in their last year of classes and two first year students, one of them, Amelia, seemingly the least likely candidate to become a Surete officer with her piercings and tattoos, but she is bright and desperate to find her way in life. They are all standing around looking at an old, strange map of Three Pines - and Gamache assigns these four figuring out the map. This seems a random assignment, but becomes the second most important thread in the book and gives the cadets experience in investigation and teamwork.

Again, many plot lines interweave:

• Corruption in the academy
• How do you raise effective, caring and kind officers?
• Who is Amelia and why did Gamache approve her application to the Academy
• Gamache's relationship with childhood friend Michelle (not sure how spelled, but a guy), but who becomes one of Gamache's biggest enemies, but why does he ask him to come back to teach?
• Annie is pregnant and Jean Guy is just so wonderful to watch as doting husband.
• Mystery of the map found in the walls of the Bistro
• Who was Anthony Turcott, the great mapper of Quebec, but why did he keep Three Pines off the map
• The story of the village Roof Trusses
• Reine Marie working on the local archives, including the stuff found in the walls of the Bistro
• What tale does the stained glass window of young WWI soldiers tell?
• Clara is working on a self portrait - how will that turn out?
• How can the people of Three Pines help the four lost cadets from the Academy.
• Ruth - she is always a plot in and of herself.

I had to get used to the new reader, and though it was strange for a while, at some point I didn't even notice anymore.