Read It and Reap: Louise Penny outdoes herself with 'Madness of Crowds'

Louise Penny, creator of Inspector Gamache, the Quebec village of Three Pines and its myriad colorful characters alongside a dramatic, changing cast of “bad guys,” is a busy author.

Available in bookstores, “The Madness of Crowds” is her 17th title featuring Gamache’s crew. Call it cozy, call it mystery, call it (Canadian) police procedural. Her novels contain all three genres, making them readable to many tastes. Beyond that are characters who search their souls for right and wrong, often while they meet in the town’s café.

Penny is enormously popular because she is fearlessly original; she doesn’t rely on current news topics for her tales, and each novel features meaty characters readers can savor, flowing prose and surprising plot twists.

I’ll admit to being befuddled a time or two by the turns in Penny’s plots — probably on me because of a habit of laying down one book, picking up another, going back to a third … you get it. (Not faithless, just focus-challenged.)

“The Madness of Crowds” is exceptional. Penny’s writing is at its best, which says a lot, as she is a master of crime vs. kindness and/or greed vs. selflessness, sometimes in the same character. The challenge of her writing is the unveiling of minds and motives. At their heart, the novels are about a kind, thoughtful and brilliant lawman with the patience of Job as he turns over each leaf in a forest of unanswered questions to get to his solutions. There’s no gore, but there are deep questions about human behavior.

Reading her 2021 Gamache is rewarding; there is plenty to chew on and a more direct plot line throughout. But she isn’t finished.

While on a tour of late-night talk shows with former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she rarely stops writing. They released “State of Terror” recently, and their political thriller shot up The New York Times bestseller list like a zinger off David Ortiz’s bat. In the novel, a recently named secretary of state tries to reveal and derail a terrorist attack. At the same time, the secretary of state suspects fraud and malign activity in the White House.

Given Clinton’s background, there’s a lot of real detail in the story, which references contemporary political situations.

All the while, Penny is at work on her next Gamache book, though it sounds improbable, given her schedule. “A World of Curiosities” is due for release at the end of November.

Sturbridge library celebration

Joshua Hyde Public Library in Sturbridge will mark its 125th anniversary with Picnic on the Common noon to 3 p.m. July 23. There will be music by Haphazard Jazz, raffles, games, scavenger hunt and food and beverages from BT's Smokehouse, Suzy Q's Ice Cream Truck and Brimfield Winery. Bring your own blankets and chairs.

Recommendation

Paxton reader Charles Innis recommends “Victory at Sea” by Paul Kennedy for fans of historical fiction and nonfiction. “It’s about WWII and how the Allies went from being woefully underequipped to an ultimately victorious war machine, in roughly two years. Good, solid history, well written, though not the easiest read,” Innis said.  “The focus, consistent with the title, is the naval aspect of the war, harking back to the documentary of that title shown in the 1950s TV program.”

Meetings

•NOW Book Group will next meet at 5 p.m. July 21 in TidePool Book Shop, 372 Chandler St., Worcester. The book is Marie Benedict’s “Her Hidden Genius,” about Rosalind Franklin, the scientist who discovered DNA’s basic double helix structure. Her discovery was life-changing, a possibility noticed by three male cohorts — who took the credit.

•Worcester Public Library’s upcoming Zoom book clubs are:

American History Book Discussion, 7 p.m. July 5 – “Booth” by Karen Joy Fowler

Science Fiction Book Club, 1 p.m. July 19 – “Wake” by Robert Sawyer

Great American Read, 7 p.m., July 26 – “Catch 22” by Joseph Heller

True Crime, 7 p.m., July 13 – “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” by Michelle McNamara.

•In Lancaster, Rachel’s Book Club meets at 12:30 p.m. July 25 to discuss Tarryn Fisher’s “The Wives.” Registration is requested at 978-368-8923, ext. 4.

Send news of book club activities and book-related comments to ann.frantz@gmail.com. This column is published the second and final Sundays monthly.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Read It and Reap: Louise Penny outdoes herself with 'Madness of Crowds'