Armand is always an investigator

By Ande Jacobson

All the Devils Are Here is the sixteenth mystery novel in Louise Penny’s Gamache series. It starts out serving as a break from the usual Three Pines/Québec storylines moving instead to Paris, France. Armand Gamache and his wife Reine-Marie are taking a short vacation from his heading the Homicide division at the Sûreté du Québec visiting their children and grandchildren. Their daughter, Annie, and son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir are soon expecting the birth of their second child. Jean-Guy has recently started his job in the private sector after leaving the Sûreté. Unfortunately for Armand and Reine-Marie, Jean-Guy’s new job is in Paris, so both of their children and all of their grandchildren are across the pond. At least it gives them a nice place to visit for important occasions.

Armand’s godfather, Stephen Horowitz, had an ulterior motive for helping get Jean-Guy his current position. Unfortunately, that reason put a target not only on Stephen’s back, but on all of their backs, and it doesn’t take long for Armand, Jean-Guy, and their families to find themselves over their heads in intrigue, danger, and some compelling mysteries. And of course, there’s also a murder investigation that consumes them. How it came to be is a mystery they must solve, and before long it becomes difficult to know whom to trust. Stephen too is at the center of the controversy having been viciously attacked and holding onto life by a thread.

Penny weaves an intricate story involving old friends, changing loyalties, and a long burning family conflict that has a bearing on the outcome of perilous events. She shows that even in the best of families with the best of intentions, misunderstandings can fester and grow into something almost insurmountable. While it doesn’t always take a life-threatening situation to right that wrong, when lives are at stake, priorities are quickly and carefully established.

Armand and Reine-Marie really thought that were taking a relaxing family vacation away from the daily life of an investigator, but they also both recognize that one of the things that make them such a great team is that their strengths complement one another. For them, pressing investigations always tend to bring them closer together and bring new discoveries to light. The long standing dispute between Armand and their son Daniel comes into play in an unexpected way. Unbeknownst to Armand and Reine-Marie, it stemmed from an innocuous event that they didn’t realize Daniel had witnessed and misunderstood. Decades of distance resulted, and while they’d prefer not to be embroiled in a life-threatening emergency, had that not happened, Armand and Daniel may never have resolved their dispute.

As for the flipping alliances, Armand questions the character of an old friend and ally through the investigation not realizing how wide-ranging the issue at hand had become. Jean-Guy finds himself in the middle of it without warning as well, but ever the able investigator and trusty deputy (even though that’s no longer his job – for the moment anyway), he and Armand fall into their old rhythm well outside of either’s purview. In fact, Armand and company bring additional resources to bear and are instrumental in solving multiple mysteries surrounding corruption at the highest levels, a public emergency, and save their own lives in the process.

The story also dives deeply into Armand’s relationship with Stephen which has been one of his most important ones throughout his life. Stephen is his godfather, and as such, he became more of a surrogate father ever since Armand’s parents died when Armand was a boy. Although the woman he viewed as his grandmother raised him, Stephen was always there, teaching and guiding him, and showing him both Québec and Paris. Stephen is a jet-setter with a big empire, or so it seems. Although quite elderly in this installment, Stephen is still the razor sharp financier and mogul he has always been, but there are things he’s kept hidden from Armand that come into play. And the attack, while at first appearing random, is anything but. The investigation shows that it is both deliberate and faulty.

At the conclusion of the investigations, Armand and his entire family make the important decision to all return to Québec, although, they really haven’t much choice given how everything sorts out. Still, for Armand and Reine-Marie, there’s nothing better than having everyone nearby. They’ll get to be involved in the daily lives of all of the children and grandchildren. And for Armand and Daniel, they have a lot of time to make up. For Jean-Guy, this also will end his foray to the private sector as he returns not only to Québec, but to the Sûreté at Armand’s side where he belongs. In fact, going forward, Armand will have dual seconds, both Jean-Guy and Isabelle Lacoste, and they’ll make an unbeatable trio when it comes to solving crime and associated mysteries.