Content Warning: The novel and the guide include discussion of death by suicide, sexual abuse of children, mass shootings, and addiction.

The novel begins on June 1, in the small town of Three Pines, Quebec. Harriet Landers, a young engineer, is staying with her aunt, Myrna, who runs the town bookshop. Myrna lives above the shop in a loft and is part of the close-knit community of residents. These residents include Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, the head of homicide for the Sureté du Quebec (the Quebec police force). While Gamache’s career has brought him into contact with many horrible crimes, he finds a deep sense of peace and calm in the quiet life he lives in Three Pines with his wife, Reine-Marie, and their dogs.

On the day the novel begins, Gamache’s daughter, Annie, and his son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, are visiting Three Pines along with their two young children, Idola and Honoré. Jean-Guy is also a police officer, Gamache’s second-in-command, and fiercely loyal to his father-in-law. Years ago, Jean-Guy and Gamache met while working on investigating a murder case, and flashbacks tell the story of that case.

On a cold day in November, Gamache, Jean-Guy, and Inspector Linda Chernin retrieved the body of Clotilde Arsenault from a lake in northern Quebec, where “it added a macabre element to an already morbid scene” (2).