The madness of the crowd. Penny L.

Louise Penny, the famous author of the detectives about the senior inspector Arman Gamash, in his novel raises tough and therefore uncomfortable questions. What lost and what acquired a civilized society after the pandemic of the twenty -first century, which involuntarily forced us to recall the gloomy conflicts of the Middle Ages? Is it really frightened, confused by the crowd is ready to go behind the new leader, who proclaims: “Everything will be fine”? Good, but not for everyone. The epidemic subsided.

On the eve of the New Year, a lecturer, Professor Ebigail Robinson, comes to Quebec at the invitation of the honorary rector of the university. The topic of her speech is caused by unprecedented excitement, and the rector personally asks the senior police inspector Gamash to ensure order in the hall. The pretty Robinson owns the attention of the audience perfectly, despite acute disagreements among the listeners. And suddenly shots sound. Panic rises.

Fortunately, Abigail is not even wounded, but Gamash has to take all the necessary measures for its further protection, although the professor’s position causes him (and not only) extreme rejection. The presence of this woman sows discord even in such a quiet place as the village of three pines. And despite all the efforts of the police officers, on New Year's Eve, under the thunder of the fireworks, a brutal murder occurs in a matter of steps from the festive Kuterma.

During the investigation, Gamash intuitively grabs the unlikely version, and this thread leads him to the past, to a terrible crime against humanity, completely here, in a civilized country.