This year I went on a bit of a reading rampage. As in, I read double the number of books I did in 2024. Despite my many ramblings about my classics book club, I do, in fact, read other books. Highlights: Local Heavens, Interior Chinatown, The God of the Woods. However...if you were to ask me about the book—or type of book—I'd clear my schedule for and actually stay up until 3 a.m. reading, it's not literary fiction. It's not even a romantic comedy, though I did enjoy Emily Henry's Great Big Beautiful Life. It's...crime fiction. I swear my love for Jane Austen is real, but I CANNOT resist the genre. Particularly, I cannot resist Canadian author Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, which is also a miniseries on Amazon Prime.
I've Read 60+ Books This Year and This Is My #1 Guilty Pleasure Read
An intellectual page turner
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Published Dec 30, 2025
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I first discovered Penny's series as a university student. A journalism class assignment had me scrambling to find a suitable book on which I could "write" a review, and after blowing through the front doors of the Boston Public Library, I spotted A Great Reckoning. Six hours later, I turned the last page.
If it's not obvious, I track installments for this series religiously and eventually got my hands on The GreyWolf, which came out in 2024. And yes, I binged it and woke up the next day with what I can only imagine a hangover feels like.
Another Thrilling Mystery With Complex Characters
What I love about the Gamache series is that there are 20 books, but each one stands on its own. Sure, the reading experience will be richer if you start from the beginning, but I didn't and can attest that wherever you jump in, the stories are thrilling, propulsive page turners.
The Grey Wolf is number 19 in the series, and follows Inspector Gamache as he and his team investigate a potentially devastating bioterrorist attack before it's too late. There are, predictably, old and familiar characters, but also new faces. A race against time. Personal stakes that are sky-high.
Penny keeps me coming back again and again because in a genre where right and wrong should be black and white, they're...not. That's what makes the inspector so relatable. He's human, trying to do the right thing, thinking he's doing the right thing and...he's wrong. He and the reader are in a morally gray area. Sometimes I surprise myself, agreeing with his actions, other times questioning them.
The Grey Wolf was my binge read of the year, and now I'm staring down book 20 in the series, The Black Wolf. Unlike Penny's other novels, this is a direct sequel to the former. Now that I've finally bought a reading light, I know what my New Year's Eve plans will be...and I'll happily cheers to that.
