A Better Man is the 15th episode in the Armand Gamache/Three Pines series. These books are set in rural Quebec, in an area known as the Eastern Townships, which lie southeast of Montreal and just north of Vermont. Armand Gamache works for the Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force. The Surete's main office is based in Montreal, and Gamache often investigates crimes that take place in or around the remote village of Three Pines. He lives there with his wife Reine-Marie.

Three Pines has a character all its own. The village is not marked on maps, and people sometimes discover it simply by accident. It's the kind of place that many of us would like to find for ourselves. It's separated from mainstream civilization and is surrounded by natural beauty. It seems like an inviting and idyllic paradise. Its residents know and care about one another. And yet, these are modern, knowledgeable -- okay, a bit eccentric -- people who still face regular challenges, as we all do. This time around, their collective problem is the rising waters of Riviere Bella Bella. April's "crapfest of slush and freezing, teasing days" and warming temperatures are causing Quebec's ice-clogged rivers to melt and flood, all across the province. The Three Pines folks rush to fill sandbags and stack them in order to save their town from their angry river. Will their efforts work?

Amidst the regional concerns about rain, snow, sleet, mud, muck, thaws and floods, two main plots emerge. The first one focuses on the disappearance of 25-year-old Vivienne Godin. She's been gone for several days, she's pregnant and she left without taking her faithful dog, Fred. If something tragic has happened to her, then Carl Tracey, her abusive husband, is likely to have been involved. He greets Gamache and his team with an attitude and a pitchfork. A few additional individuals may indeed have had reasons to get rid of Vivienne, though, and some other scenarios and possibilities eventually emerge. In the meantime, her father Homer Godin is heart-broken and despondent over the thought of losing his only daughter. Can Vivienne be found soon, alive or dead? And can the officers bring the responsible party to justice, before Homer takes matters into his own hands?

Some tensions prevail in the Surete office, as usual. Armand takes the lead in the Godin case, with Superintendent Isabelle Lacoste and others lending advice. But the truth is that Armand and his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, are both temporarily in charge of the homicide division. This potentially uncomfortable situation will last only until Jean-Guy and his family -- who happen also to be Armand's daughter and grandson -- move to Paris. His son-in-law is due to start a new job there soon. This position will not carry as much risk. The Gamaches and Beauvoirs are heading toward a goodbye scene. What will happen afterward?

A smaller secondary plot centers around Clara Morrow, an artist from Three Pines. In recent years, her creative reputation has been on a thrilling upswing. Suddenly critics are saying her recent work isn't any good. Rumors and criticisms are even tainting her previous pieces, and now some people are returning them. What's happening here? Is an enemy simply targeting her on social media? Or has she lost her gift? Clara relies on some of her friends to boost her self-esteem, but they can only help her to a point. What will she do next?

All of these characters are shown to be multi-dimensional, both on their own and in their relationships with one another. Their richness is what can captivate us as readers. Armand is especially likable because he is a compassionate cop -- thoughtful and kind in most instances, with both civilians and fellow officers. And he's demanding and forceful when he needs to be. He has had his share of ups and downs in the Surete hierarchy, going back to before these books even started. He's had to clean house and to educate upcoming officers in preferred procedure. And yet, he doesn't always get the appreciation he deserves from the higher-ups. Well, large organizations of any kind have dynamics, too. You'd like to think your public safety people would be above in-fighting amongst themselves. But maybe not.

Also, with this episode, Three Pines has quietly and finally joined the 21st century, as far as online communication goes. For the longest time, cell phone and internet coverage were spotty here, if they were available at all. Investigators had to use dial-up connections during most of their previous cases. Kudos to the author for allowing these rural folks the benefit of following social media threads as closely as other folks do, on the outside. Whether it's a benefit or not, is left up to them.

As for the solutions to the problems: the writer reels us in, then throws us back, then reels us in again. Just when we think we know what really happened -- in every plot line -- we get setbacks that lead us straight to the beginning. And just when we think some issues are separate, they collide and weave into one another. Louise Penny is a superior storyteller who is masterful at building suspense. We can't help but just hang on and keep going where she and Armand take us.

In the end: Who is the "better man" for having gone through these experiences? We'd like to think it's Armand Gamache. (Devoted fans will extoll his virtues, no matter what.) But the same label could be put on Jean-Guy Beauvoir, or even on some of the suspects of the crime. A good book discussion group could debate this issue for more than one session. It's one more aspect of Louise Penny's craftsmanship that keeps us reading and anticipating our next trip to Three Pines.

By the way: there's a duck who swears in this book and in many of the other books in the series. Some of the people swear, too, and mostly in French. If you are easily offended and can't see any humor in occasional (yet warranted) words that start with F, then you may choose to miss out on the delightfulness of this series. The words happen to start on the first page this time.

Do you need to know French to read these books? Non. You can usually figure out the meanings of occasional French phrases and interjections by the intentions and reactions of the characters. Penny also has a handy pronunciation guide of French words and names posted on her website. She provides definitions as she speaks. Listen, and you'll be able to hear the words correctly in your head as you read.

Do you need to read these books in order? It sure helps, especially to better understand the characters and their relationships, as well as that of the culture and mystique of Three Pines. A Better Man is more of a stand-alone book than some of the others, especially those coming in the middle of the series, where plot threads cross over into multiple volumes. So if you start your reading with this one, you'll have a worthwhile experience. If you're curious about the references to what happened in the woods nine months earlier, go back and read the previous book, Kingdom of the Blind. But don't be surprised if you're intrigued enough by the characters, setting, background references, inside jokes and writing style to want to return to the shelves for even more. In that case, start at the beginning with Still Life. Be warned! Visiting Three Pines can become an addiction. I admit that I am hooked for good.

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