Poisoned water plot propels Penny’s latest

The latest novel by Louise Penny, Canada’s queen of the mystery scene, is out just in time for holiday gift giving.

The many twists and turns contained within The Black Wolf are sure to please Penny’s legion of fans as well as those who appreciate a satisfying read on a winter’s night.

Over the past 20 years, the former CBC journalist and broadcaster has introduced chief inspector of the Sûreté du Québec Armand Gamache, his wife Reine-Marie, family and friends and his cosy village of Three Pines — located in an undisclosed location in rural Quebec — to mystery aficionados around the world.

Since releasing Still Life in 2005, she has written another 19 books that have garnered a host of awards, been on the New York Times bestseller list repeatedly and sold in the millions globally.

The Black Wolf follows Penny’s previous mystery, The Gray Wolf, and continues the story of Gamache’s investigation into a plot to poison Montreal’s drinking water. Deputy Prime Minister Marcus Lauzon is imprisoned and generally thought to be the Black Wolf at the centre of the domestic terrorist operation. Mafia boss Joseph Moretti is also involved, but evidence linking him to the scheme disappears, leaving him free. Young biologist Charles Langlois is also implicated through two notebooks he leaves after being murdered in a targeted hit-and-run incident. After an inquiry, the investigation is officially closed.

Gamache is injured and temporarily deafened by a gun shot while tied up in a water treatment plant, coming close to being executed. He is content to let Moretti and others believe his near-death experience had shaken him up so badly that he needs to recuperate and regain his confidence. While lying low, Gamache tries to untangle the puzzle of who is truly responsible for the plot and what bigger objective exists behind it. He senses a darker creature — the Black Wolf — growing stronger and waiting to strike.

“The creature was becoming immense, grotesque. Powerful. Looming over them. Perhaps so close it was unrecognizable for what it was,” Penny writes.

In the quiet shelter of Three Pines’ old Catholic church, Gamache shares his doubts and suspicions with his son-in-law Jean-Guy Beauvoir, a member of the Sûreté du Québec. He shows Beauvoir the map of Quebec on which Langlois has written numbers and symbols next to northern lakes. They know some of the numbers correspond to dossiers linked to illegal sales of primary industries to foreign investors. These sales were approved by Lauzon in return for huge payoffs.

The last lake Langlois visited before his death bears additional numbers. An arrow points from Quebec’s southern border into Vermont. Gamache and Beauvoir agree they must find Langlois’ missing laptop to decipher the map’s markings.

Gamache sends one of his investigators, Isabelle Lacoste, and Dr. Vivienne LaPierre, an environmental biologist, to the remote lake. LaPierre is asked to test the lake’s water and join Lacoste in searching for the laptop. Instead of finding Langlois’ computer, the women uncover a body buried in the forest.

Disbelief in the entire poisoning plot is being shared through social media, with Lauzon depicted as a hero and Gamache a villain. Social media is also being used to spread false images of American cities blanketed by layers of ash blown down from the wildfires that ravaged Canada’s boreal forest earlier in the year.

The purpose behind the shocking photos is to turn Americans against Canada and possibly set the stage for military intervention. Canada’s abundant fresh water supply could be needed to supply drought-stricken American cities.

As Gamache and his team dig deeper into the mafia and top-level Canadian politicians’ involvement in what turns out to be an international conspiracy, the Black Wolf’s identity remains a tantalizing secret.

Andrea Geary is a freelance writer in Selkirk.