This Three Pines installment was not a favorite - but, as always, I find it a great comfort to be immersed in Penny’s novels. The suspense in this one was almost entirely reliant on Inspector Gamache holding his cards close to the vest in order to fulfill his goal. I just don’t appreciate a plot device wherein the main character knows everything and isn’t telling us, especially when there’s an omniscient narrator. It comes off coy and slightly annoying. I really enjoyed how Penny expanded and extrapolated the lore of cobradors into the story, and the meditation on how much we humans are motivated by conscientiousness. On to the next!