"Old sins cast long shadows," but Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté de Québec knows how to cut through the darkness and he does just that in How the Light Gets In, Louise Penny's satisfying, suspenseful ninth Gamache novel. I'm hooked on this series and on the wise, intrepid Inspector, the agents he works with and the wonderfully conceived oddball inhabitants of Three Pines, the secluded village that has featured so prominently in most of these novels. Life has become grim for Gamache; his highly-thought-of homicide department has been wrecked by his Chief Superintendent, who wants him out, and his beloved second-in-command has turned on him, succumbing to drug abuse. But Gamache soldiers on, battling deep-seated corruption in the highest echelons of Québec's government and solving the strange murder of the last of the famed Ouellet quintuplets (think of the Dionnes). Ralph Cosham narrates again, his voice now truly Gamache's and his pace perfectly matched to Penny's graceful prose.

A NEW GUMSHOE
The cat's out of the bag and won't go back in—Robert Galbraith, whose debut mystery, The Cuckoo's Calling, got excellent reviews when it came out this spring, is not a promising new kid on the block: "He" is J.K. Rowling, the mega-selling author of the Harry Potter books. So it's hard to listen to this well-written, tautly plotted crime novel, full of vivid characters with great backstories, set in posh, moneyed London, without looking for hints of Harry and Hogwarts. But, aside from the hero's vague resemblance to the powerfully built Hagrid, Rowling proves herself a master of a new genre, creating a tough-tender, viscerally smart, Chandler/Hammett-esque private eye with a seedy office and a clever, shapely Girl Friday. Cormoran Strike, said P.I., who lost a leg in Afghanistan, is down on his luck when the brother of an old schoolmate asks him to investigate the death of his sister, Lula, a gorgeous supermodel high atop the celebrity hierarchy and plagued by paparazzi. Suicide or murder? By the time you find out, you'll be as involved with Cormoran as he is with Lula and her possible killers. And Robert Glenister's virtuoso performance gives Rowling's players an extra dimension. Sequel, please!

TOP PICK IN AUDIO
Anapestic tetrameter is not a rare disease. It's that cozy, singsong verse form we all know from "The Night Before Christmas." David Rakoff's posthumously published novel (both his first and his last), Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish, written in anapestic tetrameter, will alter that "cozy" perception forever. If you were reading the book, you'd find yourself reading aloud to get the meter right and to revel in Rakoff's slyly brilliant rhymes—but in this amazing audio, the author reads himself. His voice is scratchy and illness-worn (he succumbed to cancer days after he finished recording), but his expressive, wryly humorous style, so familiar to his "This American Life" audience, is as wonderful as always. Starting in the 1920s and hopscotching through time to the present, Rakoff creates vignettes of oddly linked characters drawn in the quick, vibrant strokes that poetry allows. He's witty, smart, an extraordinary dissector of the human condition in all its refracted angles and a bittersweet joy to listen to. This is an audiobook to savor and to share.

Set in present-day Quebec around the Christmas season, this amazing entry in Penny's (The Beautiful Mystery) popular series integrates sociopolitical commentary with well-drawn and, by now, familiar characters as it wraps up many of the plots and themes that had their roots in earlier books. Myrna Landers is upset that her houseguest is late arriving for the holiday festivities, but she's reluctant to tell Inspector Gamache the woman's name. Meanwhile, he's trying to keep his department together, even as many of his colleagues leave. As in all previous books in the series, literary detective fiction and philosophy are intertwined as well with humor, tragedy, love, betrayal, intrigue, friendship, and faith. Narrator Ralph Cosham moves seamlessly from character to character, adding depth to each; his narration, coupled with a suspenseful writing style, make for edge-of-your-seat listening. VERDICT Highly recommended for series devotees or fans of literary mysteries. [See the Q&A with author Penny on p. 48.—Ed.]—Sandra C. Clariday, Tennessee Wesleyan Coll. Lib., Athens

The avuncular voice of narrator Ralph Cosham—British, seasoned with more than a hint of Quebecois—fully expresses the mood of wistful regret that permeates this ninth (and perhaps last) chronicle of Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec. This time, while being pushed to the brink of retirement, the shrewd sleuth also has to juggle a host of problems. His formerly faithful second-in-command and potential son-in-law, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, is suffering from drug problems. Nearly all of Gamache's ultra-efficient homicide team have been re-assigned by the villainous chief superintendent of police, who is about to unleash a long-planned attack against the Canadian government. Gamache's quiet missing-persons case suddenly becomes a front-page story when the victim is revealed as the last of Canada's famous Ouellet quintuplets. And then there's a drowning death at the Champlain Bridge, which Gamache believes is neither an accident nor suicide. Cosham provides Gamache with a variety of spot-on vocal moods. There's a flat, weary approach when he's speaking with the uninspired and disrespectful new members of his team. But once on the job—issuing orders or interrogating suspects and witnesses—Cosham shifts to a hard-edged and no-nonsense delivery. Finally, he sounds thoughtful and relaxed when conversing with his family and the friends he's made in the village of Three Pines, where much of the novel takes place. Cosham manages to distinguish the book's many characters using only subtle shifts in tone, the one exception being the voice he lends shrill, foul-mouthed poetess Ruth Zardo, whose squawk sounds a bit like something her pet duck might utter. This engrossing, well-produced audio ends with a brief conversation between author and reader. A Minotaur hardcover. (Aug.)