The Madness of Crowds is the 17th episode in the Armand Gamache/Three Pines series, a collection of books set mostly in rural southern Quebec. We have followed Armand Gamache through various administrative roles in the Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force. We have seen him and his second-in-command (and now son-in-law), Jean-Guy Beauvoir, go through some tough times and some tragic situations. We have followed Armand and his wife Reine-Marie as they moved to the village of Three Pines to live among their new-found friends. We followed the Gamache family as they recently had a life-threatening adventure in Paris. Now the ENTIRE Gamache tribe has moved back to Quebec, and Armand is once again the Chief Inspector with the homicide department of the Surete.

All is, as it should be. Or as they say in Quebec: All will be well.

Especially now that the pandemic is over. The vaccines have been successful. People are once again permitted to gather in large numbers. But society can still be too easily divided into factions by someone offering an outrageous remedy to a perceived problem. This is the lesson we learn as Professor Abigail Robinson comes to the Universite de l'Estrie in the Eastern Townships to give a talk on statistics and demographics.

But her cause is much more than this, and it has real moral implications. Both supporters and protestors flock to the old university gym to hear Robinson during the wintry holiday week between Christmas and New Year's Eve. Gamache and his team have been called in to provide security and crowd control. As if on cue, shots are fired at the stage. No one is hurt, but an investigation begins, and arrests are made. The circle widens to include not only Robinson herself, but also her long-time friend and assistant, Debbie Schneider, and even the school's chancellor, Colette Roberge. How are these folks involved in what Robinson proposes? What are their connections?

Then, during a New Year's Eve celebration in Three Pines, someone within that circle is murdered. Did the killer hit the target they were aiming for? Or is this a case of mistaken identity? And how far back in time must Gamache go to learn the real reasons for this crime?

All of our favorite Three Pines residents appear here: Reine-Marie, Clara, Myrna, Olivier, Gabri, Stephen, Ruth and, of course, Rosa the duck.

A new visitor is in the village temporarily. She is young Haniya Daoud, "The Hero of Sudan." Her survival and rescue efforts under horrendous and life-threatening conditions in her home country may soon earn her the Nobel Peace Prize. While the locals greet her warmly at first, Haniya has an edginess that sets the rest of them on a tightrope, too. They do their best to accommodate her. But they have to wonder. Why is she so interested in the Surete investigation? Was she involved in any way in what happened in the university gym and at the New Year's Eve party? And could anyone else in Three Pines be connected to these events as well?

As usual with Louise Penny's books, the main plot is interesting and intricate enough on its own. Throw in a few more side dishes, and it's a full literary meal. Penny is adept at introducing two or three separate stories and then uncovering the tiny links that connect them. It's genius.

And as usual, when it comes down to identifying the perpetrator at the end, the Surete officers land on only a small handful of choices. Three, to be exact. Then Armand, Jean-Guy and Isabelle Lacoste debate the possibilities, over and over, again and again. Suddenly, several suspects ramp up the drama, and the reveal has to happen right now.

We avid readers are used to this seesawing that happens at the end of every book. On this particular occasion, though, I think the debate goes on too long. (Sorry, Louise.) It starts with about 100 pages to go, revisits it at 80, resumes it again at 50, and then begins the hold-onto-your-seat-end with 30 pages left. Enough! I almost didn't care which of the three did the deed by then. Almost. (Naturally, your reaction may differ.)

Savvy Louise Penny fans may have picked up on a foreshadow. Three books ago, in episode #14, Kingdom of the Blind, a stockbroker mentions reading the Charles McKay book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds, first published in London in 1841. He tells this to Jean-Guy Beauvoir during the interrogation in a murder investigation. Here the book makes key appearances again, deliberately so. It turns out that Louise's mother, an investment dealer, had a copy; and Louise read it as a teenager. Its contents have stayed with her ever since. I checked out the book from my local public library, and I found it to be tough going. It remains a valuable study of crowd psychology, however.

The Madness of Crowds will be devoured by fans of the series. Naturally the book is well written, in the signature style of a popular and accomplished author. This particular episode will never be my favorite one of the series. Still, the ideas that Louise Penny presents here raise tough and important questions about the value of human life: questions that will set individual readers a-pondering and book discussion groups a-chattering. Some of the mindsets and the experiences of the characters are truly horrifying. And yet, these horrors still happen, in our society, in our communities, on our planet. How can we address them? How can we prevent further harm? How can we all move forward from here? This is heavy material, found waiting within the pages of a popular mystery novel. We have to ask: Will all be well?