Louise Penny Books In Order - Inspector Gamache

Reading the Louise Penny books in order involves picking up the so-far 19 mystery novels in her popular Canadian crime series involving Chief Inspector Armand Gamache living in Quebec, her standalone novel, and short story anthologies.

Thus here is the list of Louise Penny Chief Inspector Armand Gamache books in publication order. Note that some of the books have been published under different names in different countries. If the case, then I will list both names for the same novel. The publication year is listed next to each book in the Gamache book series. We also list the author’s standalone works.

New Louise Penny Books

**The Grey Wolf** (Armand Gamache #19), 2024

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Chief Inspector Gamache Books In Publication Order

featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache

Standalone Novels

State of Terror, 2021 (co-authored with former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton)

Short Story Anthologies in Publication Order

Louise Penny Biography – About the Author

Louise Penny books in order for the crime mystery author

Louise Penny was born in 1958 in Toronto, Canada. The love of reading crime mystery books was in the family, since her mother would read such novels all the time.

Louise enrolled at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, currently known as Ryerson University, where she earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Radio and Television).

After graduation, she began working as a radio broadcaster (radio host) and journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a position that she had for 18 years. After she got married to Michael Whitehead, head of hematology at Montreal Children’s Hospital, she stopped working, choosing instead to devote her time to writing at her husband’s urging to follow her dreams.

The author’s first book would have been a historical novel, but as she didn’t feel any calling for the genre, she soon switched to crime mystery, a genre that works for her very well even after all these years.

In 2013 the author was made a Member of the Order of Canada for her essential contribution to Canadian culture. This order is only second to the Order of Merit in Canada.

The author currently lives in a small village just south of Montreal called Knowlton alone, since her husband died in 2016. Her books won numerous awards over the year. From 2006 onward she won at least an award, if not more, every single year. Only her first novel won all these awards: the New Blood Dagger award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the 2007 Anthony Award, the Barry Award, and the Dilys Award. Some books have also earned Louise Penny the Agatha Award and the Macavity Award, and many were nominated for the Agatha and the Edgar Award.

In fact, she was ready to give up when she entered the British contest, Debut Dagger, aimed at unpublished writers. Among the 800 entries present, she won the second place. Next, she found a British agent which helped her become popular and published her almost 20 novels.

The books show that serious psychological books can easily hide inside a commercial genre. There is a deeper faith and hope that the author’s book radiates from within.

About the Louise Penny Books

The first book in the Chief Inspector Gamache series is Still Life. However, in Glass Houses, Armand Gamache, who is by now a Chief Superintendent of the Quebec Provincial Police, encounters a tall, hooded figure standing unmoving in the greens of the village for three days, a foreboding of something dark and sinister, and a murder of a body discovered by Armand’s own wife, Reine-Marie Gamache, in the church basement. Armand couldn’t do anything to remove the figure because no crime has been committed with regards to it.

Next, we meet Armand at the stand testifying about a murder that was committed about the same time the dark figure appeared at the doors of the village. he Three Pines, the idyllic village will be soon shaken by murder, revenge and dark secrets that Armand Gamache must uncover before it’s too late.

I loved Glass Houses, but I have to admit that the first half of the book was not up to the author’s usual standards. However, much to my delight, the pace picked up soon after and I, once again, became enthralled by the Louise Penny’s usual flowing style.

The 2013 Louise Penny movie adaptation by CBS is based on her first novel and has the same title as the book. The movie featured the village Three Pines, just like the Armand Gamache books, and Armand, of course, was there as well in a leading role cast by Nathaniel Parker.

The movie adaptation of the Chief Inspector Gamache series turned out to be great, it was a fine translation of the author’s first book in the series. However, for some reason, I expected something a bit more. I can’t put my finger on what that was – maybe the main character’s British accent, which I didn’t feel that was belonging in Canada all that much. Still, it was a darn good movie. And the author Louise Penny being an executive producer for the film I’m sure helped with making it as close as possible to the book a lot.

The Nature of the Beast was so far probably my favorite Louise Penny book. Laurent Lepage is just a nine-year-old boy, but one with a strong imagination. And all of it revolves around alien abductions, death, murder, and all sorts of other nasty things. The proverbial crying wolf is what everyone in town things it’s going on. Until it’s not. Because Laurent goes missing and there is a reckoning to deal with after that. Could it be that what some of the boy’s blabberings were true? There is a major search going on to find him everywhere, out in nature, in the woods, down south, up north, but what they come across is nothing less than death, murder, and complete betrayal and reckoning.

Should we read the Louise Penny books in order?

Having read all the Three Pines Chief Inspector Gamache books in order a while ago, with the latest two murder novels only recently, I don’t feel it’s essential to read the novels in order, unless you’re a stickler to reading the book list in chronological order like me, no matter what. They do stand on their own nicely, each with their own plot to murder someone.

Louise Penny makes a good job of explaining in each book if anything is important from the past, so you don’t feel overwhelmed with lots of stuff that you should have read before reading the current book.

However, for the sake of character development and getting to know the beautiful people a bit better, if you can pick up her novels and read each book in order, do it, even if to learn more about Armand Gamache, his wife, and the Three Pines village a bit more in each book.

If you read them out of order though, it’s not such a biggie. As the author herself put it, it’s not necessary to read previous books – but it is recommended. They make for relatively light reading (the nature of the characters involved in solving the murders has nothing seriously gory in them). So check out the Louise Penny reading order above and follow it, including the short novella.

What About the Inspector Armand Gamache TV Show?

December 2022 saw the premiere of the Three Pines series, an Amazon Studios mystery streaming television series starring Alfred Molina, which is based on the book series focused around Chief Inspector Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec police force.

Unlike the books, the TV series also includes another storyline going throughout the season, where Gamache is investigating the disappearance of a young Indigenous woman.

Some of the other main actors for the TV show are:

Rossif Sutherland as Jean-Guy Beauvoir
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as Isabelle Lacoste
Tantoo Cardinal as Bea Mayer
Clare Coulter as Ruth Zardo
Sarah Booth as Yvette Nichol
Anna Tierney as Clara Morrow
Roberta Battaglia as Crie

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com talked about the Three Pines series, saying it is “A collection of intelligent two-hour mysteries that fans of Agatha Christie or even Columbo should watch.”

A former TV movie adaptation was released in 2013 with the title Still Life: A Three Pines Mystery featuring Nathaniel Parker as Inspector Gamache.

Louise Penny Awards and Nominations

Over the years, Louise Penny’s books have won several awards and nominations including

A Trick of the Light

received the 2012 Anthony Award for Best Novel
received the 2012 Agatha Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2012 Macavity Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2012 Dilys Award for Best Book

Still Life

received the 2006 John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
received the 2007 Dilys Award for Best Book
received the 2007 Barry Award for Best First Novel
received the 2007 Anthony Award for Best First Novel
was nominated for the 2010 Barry Award for Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade

The Cruellest Month

received the 2008 Agatha Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2009 Macavity Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2009 Barry Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2009 Anthony Award for Best Novel

The Brutal Telling

received the 2010 Anthony Award for Best Novel
received the 2010 Agatha Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2010 Macavity Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2010 Dilys Award for Best Book

Bury Your Dead

received the 2011 Nero Award
received the 2011 Macavity Award for Best Novel
received the 2011 Dilys Award for Best Book
received the 2011 Anthony Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2011 Barry Award for Best Novel

The Beautiful Mystery

received the 2012 Agatha Award for Best Novel
received the 2013 Macavity Award for Best Novel
received the 2013 Anthony Award for Best Novel

A Great Reckoning

received the 2017 Macavity Award for Best Novel
received the 2017 Lefty Award for Best Mystery Novel
received the 2017 Barry Award for Best Novel
received the 2017 Anthony Award for Best Novel
received the 2016 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel

Glass Houses

received the 2017 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel
was nominated for the 2018 Macavity Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2018 Lefty Award for Best Mystery Novel
was nominated for the 2018 Anthony Award for Best Novel

Kingdom of the Blind

was nominated for the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel

The Nature of the Beast

received the 2016 Lefty Award for Best World Mystery
was nominated for the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2015 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel

How the Light Gets In

was nominated for the 2014 Macavity Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2014 Edgar Award for Best Novel
was shortlisted for the 2014 CWA Gold Dagger
was nominated for the 2013 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel

The Long Way Home

was nominated for the 2015 Macavity Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2015 Anthony Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2015 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel

All the Devils Are Here

received the 2021 Lefty Award for Best Mystery Novel
received the 2020 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel
was nominated for the 2021 Macavity Award for Best Novel
was nominated for the 2021 Barry Award for Best Novel

The Madness of Crowds

was nominated for the 2021 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel

A World of Curiosities

received the 2023 Macavity Award for Best Novel
received the 2022 Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel
was nominated for the 2023 Lefty Award for Best Mystery Novel
was nominated for the 2023 Anthony Award for Best Hardcover Novel

61 Comments

LOIS marilyn HEARD says:
November 5, 2024 at
want to read the books referred to in The Gray Wolf — about the monks and when his agents were killed but not know which ones they are — please give me the titles
1. Mystery Sequels says:
  November 5, 2024 at
  I think the book that is referenced about the monasteries is The Beautiful Mystery, where Gamache investigates a murder at the secluded Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups monastery.
  As for the deaths of Gamache’s agents, it should be Bury Your Dead, because it had a disastrous police operation which resulted in some death (without spoiling too much).
B. Calder says:
October 3, 2023 at
Enjoyed all the books, Alfred Molina, as the main character, excellent, Hope they renew the series, as these are amazing stories, & should be continued.
Kathy Gould says:
July 24, 2023 at
I’ve seen that they are not renewing Three Pines. I’m so sad. I love all of Louise Penny’s Gamache series and was so hopeful to see the television adaptation. Any chance the decision will be reversed?
Nathalie says:
December 28, 2022 at
Just finished watching season 1 on Prime. The Hangman was the last episode. What book follows, A Trick of the Light? I’m going to read the books before season 2 comes out! Thank you.

Louise Penny Books In Order – Inspector Gamache