Published in 2018, Kingdom of the Blind is a mystery novel by Canadian author Louise Penny. It is the 14th installment in her bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache series, which has been adapted into the television series Three Pines. The novel was a #1 New York Times bestseller and received numerous accolades, including being named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews and BookPage. The story follows Armand Gamache, the suspended Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, who is unexpectedly named an executor of a will for a complete stranger. Simultaneously, Gamache must contend with the fallout from his suspension even as he secretly works to locate a missing shipment of deadly opioids before they hit the streets of Montréal. The novel explores The Burden of Accountability, Choosing Forgiveness Over Conflict, and Recognizing the Limits of One’s Perspective. Penny has won numerous awards for the Gamache series, including multiple Agatha and Anthony Awards, and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2017.

This guide refers to the 2019 Minotaur Books paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide contain depictions of cursing, addiction, substance use, rape, graphic violence, and death.

Plot Summary

Armand Gamache, the suspended Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, receives a strange letter from a notary, Maître Laurence Mercier, summoning him to a remote, dilapidated farmhouse. Upon investigating, Gamache discovers that the notary died six months earlier. Out of curiosity, he decides to go to the meeting.

At the farmhouse, he finds his friend Myrna Landers, a retired psychologist and bookstore owner from his village of Three Pines, who received an identical summons. Inside, they are greeted by a man who introduces himself as Maître Mercier. They are soon joined by a young builder, Benedict Pouliot, who also received a letter.

The man reveals that he is Lucien Mercier, the son of the deceased notary, and he is a notary himself. He informs Gamache, Myrna, and Benedict that they have been named liquidators, or executors, of the will of Bertha Baumgartner, a woman none of them has ever met. The will is bizarre, containing bequests totaling $15 million to her three children, as well as properties in Switzerland and Vienna. As a blizzard intensifies outside, the unstable house begins to creak and crack, forcing the four to flee. They are only able to dig Gamache’s car out, and they all go to nearby Three Pines and take refuge at the Gamache home.

In a parallel storyline, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Gamache’s son-in-law and the acting head of homicide, faces an internal Sûreté investigation regarding Gamache’s suspension. The suspension resulted from an operation in the previous novel, in which Gamache allowed a large shipment of a deadly substance called carfentanil into Québec as part of an attempt to dismantle powerful drug cartels. A significant portion of the carfentanil remains missing. The investigators, along with Francis Cournoyer from the Ministère de la Justice, pressure Beauvoir to sign a statement distancing himself from Gamache, implying Gamache will be used as a scapegoat for the crisis. Beauvoir refuses.

The group waiting out the storm in Gamache’s home is joined by other villagers, including the poet Ruth Zardo. Ruth remembers Bertha Baumgartner, identifying her as a local cleaning woman who insisted on being called “the Baroness.” This is confirmed by bistro owners Gabri Dubeau and Olivier Brulé and by artist Clara Morrow.

After the storm, Gamache and the others return to the farmhouse to get their vehicles. They ask the neighbor, who witnessed the will, about the Baroness, and they say that she was eccentric but competent. Gamache discovers Benedict’s truck has no snow tires and forbids him from driving it. Benedict returns to Three Pines to stay with Gamache.

Gamache visits Isabelle Lacoste, a senior officer recovering from a severe head injury sustained during the opioid raid. He confides in her about a Sûreté cadet, Amelia Choquet, who has been caught with opioids. Gamache confronts Amelia and expels her from the academy. As she is expelled, Amelia throws her copy, which he gave to her, of Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations at Gamache.

The liquidators meet Bertha’s three children: Anthony, Caroline, and Hugo. They explain that their mother believed she was a baroness descended from the Rothschilds and entitled to a lost family fortune, so they are unsurprised by the will’s contents. They have been told the story since they were children, but they don’t believe it.

The next morning, Benedict is missing from the Gamache home. A search leads Gamache, Myrna, and Beauvoir to the Baumgartner farmhouse, which has partially collapsed. They find Anthony’s car in the yard and hear knocking from inside the house. Gamache, Myrna, and local handyman Billy Williams enter the unstable structure and find Benedict trapped. Just as they reach him, the house collapses completely. They survive by sheltering in a sturdy doorway. Amid the rubble, Gamache discovers a body, which is later identified as Anthony Baumgartner. The coroner determines that he was murdered by a blow to the head before the house fell.

Beauvoir opens a homicide investigation. He learns that Anthony was gay, but not openly so. He also learns that Anthony’s trading license was suspended years ago after his lover and assistant, Bernard Shaeffer, was caught embezzling. Anthony reported the crime but took partial blame. Beauvoir’s team finds falsified financial statements in Anthony’s study, suggesting he was running a massive fraud scheme. Worn down by the investigation and political pressure, Beauvoir attends a different meeting and signs a statement that criticizes Gamache’s actions.

Meanwhile, Myrna and Clara research the Baroness’s family history, tracing the feud to a contested 1885 will of Baron Shlomo Kinderoth. Gamache contacts the police in Vienna and speaks to a Kontrollinspektor Gund, who confirms the century-long legal battle and reveals that a final judgment is imminent. Beauvoir learns of another elderly Kinderoth couple with a similar will. Gamache’s godfather, Stephen Horowitz, head of the firm where Hugo works, confirms that Hugo is a trusted employee, while Anthony had a reputation for being corrupt.

The investigation reveals that the Baroness’s emergency contact was a young woman named Katie Burke, whom Gamache and Lacoste identify as Benedict’s supposedly ex-girlfriend. Gamache confronts Benedict, who admits that the breakup was a lie. Katie is brought in and reveals the full story: Her grandfather was a Kinderoth, and he preferred to be called Baron. He and the Baroness met and fell in love at the nursing home. They planned to marry in order to end the family feud, but the Baron died before they could.

After the Baron died, the grieving Baroness, with Katie’s help, changed her will to appoint neutral liquidators who would honor her wish to share any inheritance between the two halves of the family, no matter who won. Benedict was appointed as a proxy for Katie. The Baroness also wrote a letter for Anthony, explaining her wishes and asking him to tear down the farmhouse. Benedict admits he went to the farmhouse to assess its demolition and accidentally caused the initial collapse.

Meanwhile, Amelia, now leading a gang, searches for the carfentanil on the streets; she is determined to capture it and run the street market for it. She deduces that “David” is the street name for the carfentanil, and she also surmises that whoever has the drug has been experimenting on people with addictions in order to find the right dosage. The carfentanil hits the streets, causing a string of overdose deaths. When Amelia finally finds the factory where they are manufacturing the drug, she is overpowered and injected with a near-lethal dose.

The Sûreté and Montréal police raid the factory. Beauvoir kills an attacker, and Gamache revives Amelia with naloxone and CPR. The drug shipment is secured. The narrative reveals that Amelia was working for and with Gamache all along.

Anthony Baumgartner’s murder is solved when Beauvoir and Agent Lysette Cloutier discover that a number on the back of a painting in Anthony’s study is the account number for a secret bank account in Singapore. The laptop files reveal the truth: The massive embezzlement scheme was run by Hugo, who used Anthony’s laptop to frame him. Anthony had discovered his brother’s betrayal and confronted him at the farmhouse, where Hugo killed him. Hugo Baumgartner is arrested for murder.

In the aftermath, the Prime Minister forces Gamache to resign as Chief Superintendent. He declines an offer to return as head of homicide, as the position is held by Beauvoir. In addition, he makes it a condition of his resignation that Isabelle Lacoste is offered a senior post. Beauvoir then reveals that he is leaving the Sûreté for a corporate job in Paris.

Kontrollinspektor Gund calls Gamache to inform him that the Vienna court has ruled in favor of the Baumgartners. They discover that the inheritance is real and is worth tens of millions due to Nazi reparations, which the families can claim if they file jointly. The novel ends with Gamache and Reine-Marie facing the impending departure of their daughter, son-in-law, and grandson to Paris.