The Grey Wolf (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Number 19), Louise Penny. Minotaur Books (ISBN: 9781250328144) 2024.

Summary: Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Isabelle seek to avert a plotted catastrophe, trusting no one but each other.

It was worth the wait. It’s been two years since the last in the Gamache series, Penny taking a year off. The result was a riveting, edge-of-the seat work involving a scary plot in which tens of thousands could die.

It all begins on a quiet August Sunday, interrupted by a series of phone calls to Gamache’s private line. Finally, he picks it up, listens, says “Go to hell,” and hangs up. Not a wrong number but a wrong person, Jeanne Caron, responsible for adding to the suffering of Gamache’s son Daniel as a payback for Gamache’s refusing to bend the law for a political favor. She wanted to meet and called on a number known only to family and friends.

Then more strange things occur. While at the bistro, the alarm goes off to a flat they owned in Montreal. It appeared to be a faulty sensor. Leaving the bistro, Gamache sees a man who is vaguely familiar. At the Montreal flat, nothing was amiss. Except for a jacket, mailed back to Gamache with a cryptic list of herbs in the pocket and a request to meet at a cafe.

A man shows up for the meeting, a freelance biologist with a drug-abusing past. He hints at a terrible plot but leaves it to Gamache to figure out. As they leave the cafe, a driver heads toward them. Gamache leaps to save a grandfather and grandchild. The biologist is killed.

All this sets Gamache and his team in pursuit of the killers, one of whom they find executed, and what Langlois, the biologist, was trying to tell him. But it quickly becomes apparent that Gamache can only trust Jean-Guy and Isabelle. Thus, who is friend and who is enemy is not clear. For example, even his superior, the woman Gamache recommended when he stepped down from the position, is suspect. And Jeanne Caron? Why did she call?

And that familiar man at the bistro? It was none other than the abbot of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, Dom Phillippe (see book eight). But this was no random visit. He leaves a message for Gamache at the village church, a piece of paper connected to the paper in his jacket pocket. And a bottle of Chartreuse at the bistro.

This leads a hair-raising flight to the remote location of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups. No Dom Phillippe but they find a map from Langlois. Meanwhile Isabelle travels to DC, the Vatican and an abbey in France. And Gamache continues to search for notebooks Langlois left behind, increasingly convinced that what Langlois died trying to warn him about was a plot to poison Montreal’s water supply.

Not able to trust insiders in the Surete, Gamache goes outside. For example, he offers dirt on himself to a blogger hostile to him for her investigative efforts. He gains the trust of the crusty Mission director, where Langlois sought refuge for a time. The pattern of reaching out to those on the margins, those discounted by others, continues.

But will their fevered efforts be in time and enough? And who is behind this plot? And why? Penny keeps us turning the pages to find out.

The residents of Three Pines play a supporting role to Gamache’s family, sheltering in Three Pines, but little more. Given the focus of the plot, there is little room for development of these characters. That said, Ruth acts totally in character. There are indications of a deepening rapprochement between Daniel and Armand.

And the title? Wolves turn up at several places but key is a story Armand tell Jean-Guy about Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups, which means Saint Gilbert Between the Wolves. It comes from a story a Cree chief told the first abbot about two wolves inside us, a grey and black one, the first strong, compassionate, and wise. the second, cruel and cunning. The question is, which wolf will win? The answer: the one we feed. In this book, we learn of a grey wolf. And in the after matter, we learn that Penny’s next book, in 2025, is titled The Black Wolf. So, strap in folks, for more good reading ahead!

For Gamache readers, if you want to refresh your memory of the preceding books (and especially book 8, The Beautiful Mystery), you might find my blog post, The Reviews: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Series, helpful.