Ponder: How the Light Gets In

The ninth of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels,  How the Light Gets In ©2013 by Louise Penny, was another winner for me. Completing this book means I am past the halfway mark of reading her seventeen novels. The book had the familiar characters of Armand Gamache and his second in command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir; it eventually resolved a conflict between them, which had been left hanging at the end of the eighth novel. 

How the Light Gets In has three story plot lines running at the same time: a missing person case, corruption at the highest level of the Suréte, and the damaged relationship between Armand and Jean-Guy. Unlike my criticism of  the three-timeline Bury Your Dead (sixth novel reviewed in my post dated 2/24/21), all three plots of How the Light Gets In held my interest equally and intensely, prompting me to keep turning pages rapidly and eagerly. The book's setting has the reader traveling back and forth across the famous four-mile long Champlain Bridge between Montreal and the quaint village of Three Pines. 

The action takes place only partially in Three Pines but still the villagers play key roles.

• Myrna, the former psychologist who owns a book store, requests Armande's help in locating a friend of hers. Myrna's case involves an extremely well known personage; clues to its resolution take Armand beyond the environs of Three Pines. Although on the surface it appears to be a case of a missing person, foul play is eventually revealed both in the present and the past.
• In parallel, corruption within the internal affairs of Suréte is being revealed and a heinous crime is being flushed out. The action scenes from this corruption plot line are a primary source of suspense and continual tension while the climax near the end features key roles played by many of the Three Pines villagers.
• Ruth, the eccentric old poet with a pet duck named Rosa, is instrumental in repairing the relationship between Jean-Guy and Armand.

I rate How the Light Gets In five stars. Kudos to Louise Penny for pulling off the multiple plot lines with great skill while keeping my favorite characters playing key roles throughout.
★★★★★ Great! Read it!