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A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, 19)
by Louise Penny
The 19th mystery in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Armand Gamache series.
Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.
That's only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin The Grey Wolf, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny's #1 New York Times-bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading "this might interest you", a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list―and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.
Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command, and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they're chasing becomes clear. If they fail the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/6/2025)
I agree. I thought Black Wolf was much better than Grey Wolf. It was a little out of Louise Penny's normal lane which she mentions in her author note at the end.
-Anne_Glasgow
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10/23/2025)
I finished The Death of Us by Abigail Dean this weekend. She's a gifted writer. Now I'm rereading Grey Wolf by Louise Penny before The Black Wolf comes out this Tuesday.
-Cheri_Mcelroy
What are you reading this week? (7/24/2025)
This will be my second attempt at Grey Wolf. I have read and/or listened to all of Louise Penny's Gamache novels at least once, with great zeal, but just could not get interested in GW at the first reading. Wish me luck! :blush:
-Sunny
What book or books are you reading this week? (01/09/2025)
Just finished "The Grey Wolf". Louise Penny is the only author who I have read every one of her Inspector Gamache series. This book has a sequel which I am anxiously awaiting. It was great to revisit the remote monastary of the Gilbertines once again.
-Jolene_Blankley
Name a book that was really popular that you absolutely hated
I don't use the H word, but the single book that immediately came to mind as being absolutely forgettable was Louise Penny's most recent Gamache mystery, The Grey Wolf.
-Sunny
What are your reading this week? (12-12-2024)
Grey Wolf by Louise Penny and Everyone This Christmas Has A Secret by Benjamin Stevenson on audiobook.
-Gabi_J
What are you reading this week? (11-28-2024)
I'm reading The Grey Wolf, the new one by Louise Penny. It's complicated and I'm working to keep all the characters straight but it's starting to come together for me.
-Evonne_Benedict
"One of the series' best...Penny pulls off the narrative's uncharacteristically epic scope without a hitch, swapping fair-play puzzles for pulse-pounding cliffhangers without sacrificing intimate character moments. Gamache's fans will be eager for his next adventure" ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The story is complex and intense, and, as always, artfully constructed and lyrically delivered." ―Booklist (starred review)
"Penny's follow-up to A World of Curiosities plays on readers' fears as she launches a new story arc that is completed in this installment but presents a cliffhanger. It's a frightening novel of duality, of good versus evil, with an allegorical tale for today's world, as only Penny can write." ―Library Journal (starred review)
"Penny's most ambitious novel to date… I read it in one sitting, because I could not put it down." ―BookPage (starred review)
"The latest Inspector Gamache book finds the Québécois homicide investigator looking into a series of disturbing incidents ― and a possible terrorist plot that could kill thousands." ―New York Post
"One of those rare triple-deckers that's actually worth every page, every complication, every bead of sweat." ―Kirkus Reviews
"Fresh and surprising… It's a solemn treatise on power, greed, trust, devotion and the vulnerabilities of the world's infrastructure. It will leave you shaken. Ever since Still Life, the first Gamache novel, was published in 2005 in Canada, after being rejected by dozens of publishers, critics and fans have crowned each subsequent novel the most haunting, the darkest and the edgiest. The Grey Wolf is all those things and more." ―The Washington Post
"Foiling this sinister plan rests on the actions of a fallible group of mortals who must choose between good and evil, action and inaction, courage and cowardice. The motto on Gamache's office wall helpfully reminds: 'Be not afraid." ―The Wall Street Journal
This information about The Grey Wolf was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Jean-Francois Bérubé
Louise Penny is the multi-award winning author of the Chief Inspector Gamache novels, set in her home province of Québec, Canada. Her books, including State of Terror written with Hillary Rodham Clinton, have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide, topped international bestseller lists, including the New York Times, and been translated into 32 languages. The recipient of both the Order of Canada and l'Ordre national du Québec, her country's highest civilian honours, her Three Pines Foundation reaches out to those in crisis and offers financial and emotional support, with a special focus on literacy as well as dementia care. Her husband, Michael, died of dementia in 2016. She lives with her Golden Retrievers Muggins and Charlie in a village south of Montréal.
If you liked The Grey Wolf, try these:
by Louise Penny
Published 2021
The 16th novel by #1 bestselling author Louise Penny finds Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec investigating a sinister plot in the City of Light.
by Peter Swanson
Published 2021
From the hugely talented author of Before She Knew Him comes a chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction's most ingenious murders.
by Tim Mason
Published 2020
Get ready for one of the most inventive and entertaining novels of 2019—an edge-of-your-seat Victorian-era thriller, where the controversial publication of On the Origin of Species sets off a string of unspeakable crimes.
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