Oh, I love this series. For this new book, it has not joined my favorites, but it's also not the worse. It's okay. I understand that writers had to decide whether to include the pandemic in their books or if they had to ignore it. I understand that it's a hard thing to decide. Ms. Penny decided to include the pandemic, but AFTER the pandemic in a world where things have "recovered" but not really (kinda like real life). The title is very good because crowds can easily turn to madness with a leader who does not have the best intentions or has terrible goals. Now here, (no spoilers) there's a person who Inspector Gamache must work with and he does not agree with her ideas, but he must investigate whether someone is trying to kill her or if it was someone else that was the target. (I'm really trying not to spoil anything). Three Pines is the setting. The Gamaches are back with the whole family because of the holidays. Stephen is now living with them (spoiler?). There's a couple visitors in town/nearby who rattle Three Pines and gets them to think about life. I enjoyed the book. It was good. I took a start away because I'm still wrapping my head around the pandemic and the cost of the human lives and this book hit too close to home about it. I do not think it was a bad thing for Ms. Penny to write about the pandemic. But if you are trying to get away from it, this is not the book for you. But it's a deep, methodical Inspector Gamache book where you see how he thinks and gives you new ways to think about life.