Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec embarks on his thirteenth case in Glass Houses (Minotaur, $28.99). The latest installment of Louise Penny’s award-winning mystery series is a wonderful example of a book that not only builds on and extends an established character but also stands alone as a satisfying narrative in itself. In the Montreal suburb of Three Pines, a mysterious, hooded figure dressed in black suddenly appears one day on the town commons. Motionless and silent, watching carefully, he seems like a dark conscience passing judgment on an unknown crime. When a murder soon follows, Inspector Gamache and his team of detectives must solve the crime while also concealing certain details in order to lure in bigger drug kingpins. Glass Houses is told from Gamache’s perspective nearly a year after the murder, and the truth is slowly revealed during a court case as pieces of the mystery come to light and the tension builds to a thrilling climax. Beautifully written, with smart and likable characters, and grounded in snowy and scenic Quebec, this is a mystery that even non-mystery readers will love.