Reviews and Comments

I am interested in this series. It's set in Colonial Singapore. The main characters are British, but there are some Singaporean characters, but they are mostly in the background. I'm hoping that'll change in the series.
I thought this would be a story mostly based on Harriet (it is listed as a "Harriet Gordon Mystery" on Goodreads), but it's a split between Harriet and the detective, Curran. Curran is a bit of a mystery himself, born into a rich family, but from the wrong stock. He has gone "native" in Singapore - I found this interesting and want to learn more. Harriet isn't just a personal secretary but someone who has lived life, lost, and fought.
The mystery is interesting, Sir Newbold and his servant were killed and Harriet found them. Curran investigates who Newbold was and why he was killed.
I am very interested in reading more about colonial Singapore, Detective Curran and Harriet.

New adventure with Robin and Cormoran! I enjoy this series - I like the switch between protagonists - Robin and Strike. I'm actually not really into the whole 'will they- won't they' thing - I just enjoy how awesome Robin has grown and how their business is FINALLY thriving. I do wish Strike would take care of himself though. The mystery takes a while to get in. I think if you don't know much about the internet, you may have a hard time following along some of the story. A woman comes and meets Robin, the firm is swamped and Robin is unable to help. Later, the woman dies and the firm gets hired, to find out the same thing the woman came in and more. There's a lot of talk about internet, chat-style speaking, online vernacular, etc. CW: abuse, pedophilia, murder. I found it all very interesting. The book is HUGE (I first had a hard cover, but it was too unwieldy - then I got an e-book). Although, I will say, the end (ironically because it's such a long book), felt rushed. I like the character development, the way they solve things and how the agency works.

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.

Another re-read. For the most part, the Gamache series do stand alone, but here, Ms. Penny does reference some things in the past (although she will admit she changed some things about Stephen).

So, the Gamaches are all in Paris. Annie is about to give birth, Jean-Guy and she live in Paris now and have joined Daniel and Roslyn (Annie's brother and sister-in-law, respectively). Armand and Rein-Marie are in Paris for the birth and to be with family. Stephen is going to join them and they are all waiting for the new baby. How wonderful! What could go wrong? Well, after their nice big family dinner, Stephen gets run down in a hit and run. The whole family was in the street at the time, but Stephen was the only one hit and hurt. Armand, of course, is traumatized and shocked because of the lost of his parents (Stephen is the only parental figure left). Then, stuff gets weird and I don't want to spoil anything. It looks like it was not a car "accident" but a hit. Who is going after Stephen? What was Stephen up to? Is the rest of the family safe?

Armand, along with Jean-Guy, Rein-Marie and others investigate.

I really enjoyed this book because it has a LOT. Good mystery, family, friends, it builds upon characters and themes that has been mentioned in previous books in the series.

Lots of intrigue. Three Pines is not a big character in this book. It's mentioned, but the focus is on Armand, his past, his family and what it all means to him.

One of my favorites of the series!

This time Harriet is part of the police force and doesn't "run" into the crime scene. This book felt like more of a "Harriet" book (versus the first one, I felt like it was very much Curran). The crime is a young woman is brutally murdered (in her sleep?) in her bed. Harriet gets involved because of her work with Curran and also because of the murder victim's sister-in-law (she's the female who can help Curran). The mystery was interesting. There was no way to guess (although I did try and I was wrong a few times!). The descriptions of Singapore and the times were interesting. I do like that. I actually started book 3 accidentally before I started this book, so my brain did get a little muddled. There's more of the back story of Harriet's past and of Curran's past (and Li An). You get more of the character development of both characters.