Meanwhile, the most unlikely relationship between him and Ruth Zardo, continues to unfold as Beauvoir processes his own trauma. Beauvoir, initially convinced that they had the right person in custody, begins to uncover evidence and question assumptions, leading to doubts of his own, and the disturbing possibility that the murderer is still in Three Pines. Yet persistent letters to Gamache of a villager with one question, lead him to ask Beauvoir, ostensibly there to recover, to make sure they had arrested and convicted the right suspect. He and Gamache had arrested the murderer of a hermit hidden deep in a forest near Three Pines, as told in the previous novel. Meanwhile, Beauvoir has returned to Three Pines. Meanwhile, dead of night walks with Henri and conversations with Emile don’t, of themselves heal Gamache but create the space where he can. The local inspector asks Gamache to assist, with the board as prime suspects, and a growing trail of evidence that pointed toward the possible burial place of Champlain. A dead Renaud had been buried in the basement, cutting the phone line. The next morning, the phones were out of order, and the repairman found the cause. Augustin Renaud, considered by many an old crank seeking the burial place of Champlain, Quebec’s founder, had asked to speak to the Lit and His (as it was called) board and was refused. He spends time investigating a historical battle until–you guessed it–a murder happens in the basement of the library.
To distract himself, Gamache and his German shepherd Henri go to the Literary and Historical Library, an archive maintained by the English community amid a sea of French-speaking Quebecois. Gamache has gone to stay in Quebec City with his old Chief, Emile, who had mentored him. These are among the dead to be grieved and buried and the tale of the kidnapping, desperate investigation, and fatal raid are gradually unfolded over the course of the novel as each remembers fragments and re-tells them. He recovers enough to lead the cortege, but their wounds, their memories of the ambush and the loss of fellow officers remain to be healed. Agents die, and Beauvoir is wounded as is Gamache, nearly fatally, as he rescues a downed agent. Gamache leads the raid to rescue Morin, which turns out to be an ambush. While Gamache talks, the team, with a critical contribution by Yvette Nichol, discovers both Morin’s location, and a much bigger plot in which this is a diversion. The kidnapper, on an untraceable phone, tells Gamache that Morin is strapped to a bomb which will detonate in 24 hours, or if he and Gamache stop talking to each other. Young Agent Paul Morin, who we met in the previous novel, had been kidnapped while his partner was killed.
As each faces their own traumas they get caught up in murder investigations in Quebec City and Three Pines.Īrmand Gamache and Jean Guy Beauvoir are wounded and desperately in need of healing in both body and mind. Summary: Gamache and Beauvoir are on leave after an attempt to rescue an agent goes terribly wrong. Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Gamache #6), Louise Penny.