A Better Man, by Louise Penny

2019  Minotaur Books

I'm going to try writing this blog as I read.  I'll give page numbers so that you can avoid "spoilers."  (We'll see how well this works.  As always, feedback is appreciated.)

A note about the blog.  I began this for my pre-service and in-service teachers as I professed various literacy methods courses.  The focus was originally on young adult and children's literature.  I am now retired (emeritus)  and have decided to change the focus of the blog to "literary travels."  My first retirement trip was to Quebec to explore the settings of Louise Penny's oeuvre. As I add entries to this blog I will also post travel notes and photos.

The beginning...twitter posts about both Gamache and Clara Morrow.  Penny is always in tune with important trends in our lives.  Twitter and the trolls that misuse this type of social media are a plague upon the land.  Our local university football coach, Brian Harsin, made some wonderful comments recently about negative twitter feeds about specific players and the performance of the team in general.  His analysis of "twitiots" is brilliant.  (You can listen to him here.)  Yes, I have a twitter account.  Haven't read it for months!  I'm beginning to see my ending target and am increasingly aware of how I spend my time.  I don't want to waste my time reading nonsense.  I'll spend it reading carefully crafted work by thoughtful, informed people rather than twitiots.

Motto of Sûreté du Québec

Gamache returns to the Sûreté du Québec. While in Montreal I visited what I think is its headquarters.  I didn't think to try and enter.  Probably my mid-western politeness is what holds me back from being so brazen as to try and open a door.  Still, it didn't look like an American official building, no long staircase leading to pillars surrounding double doors.  Maybe Québécois are more frugal and have better priorities about where public funds should be spent. Maybe I was at a branch office.






Chapter 4

Crossing the St.Lawrence river on the Champlain Bridge Gamache is again challenged by his fear of heights.  This bridge and the river are important motifs in the Inspector Gamache books.  It's small wonder.  I visited Montreal in the fall.  Thank goodness no ice!  But the river and bridge are most impressive.  Now that I live in the Western United States, where almost all of our rivers are dammed, It's easy to forget how powerful untamed rivers are.  For a part of my life, I lived almost on the banks of the Mississippi River.  Flooding happened.  Until you stand near the rushing waters of a large river it is difficult to understand the power of these types of waters.  The Champlain Bridge was also featured in Penny's first book Still Life.

Closing Thoughts
At the end of Chapter 11 Penny closes with "...Sometimes we have to do something stupid (Gamache).  
     It did not seem to Isabelle Lacoste a great addition to the Sûreté motto.
         "Sevice, integrity, justice, and, occasionally, stupidity."
I think it is an important clue to Gamache's approach to policing and life.  I think we need sometimes to be willing to throw caution to the wind and commit to an action that appears stupid but indeed may lead to the first part of the motto, particularly integrity.