Glass Houses, Penny - B +

                                              This is the  thirteenth book in the Armand Gamache series and, I believe, the most complex and best so far. The opening pages are about a trial in Quebec that is the result of a murder six months earlier in Three Pines. Only in the closing chapter do we even find out who the defendant is. This in and of itself builds a massive amount of tension throughout the book. The flashbacks to the crime build up a parallel and very compelling storyline about the plague of drugs, opioids and new synthetics on both sides of the border. Armand is now, after a third request, back at the Surete and fully in charge. He realizes that the drug cartels are winning and creates an amazingly complex plot to halt them in their tracks. Armand succeeds in the end, but is suspended for his choice of methodology. This has been a fabulous read.