“I'm constantly surprised by the books. Because I think about books a lot before I start writing them, I don't write structure and a formal outline. But I carry a notebook around with me for about a year before I start writing and I write down quotes and thoughts and ideas and snippets of overheard conversations and things from the newspaper…some of them are used later and some just are never used, but eventually a pattern forms and that becomes then the idea for the book…” Who hasn’t thought of moving to Three Pines after reading one of Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels? Louise joins us on the show to talk about the story behind the 17th book in the series, The Madness of Crowds, choosing kindness, the evolution of Gamache, Agatha Christie’s relationship to Poirot, and more. Featured book: The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny. Produced/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.