The tyranny of the greater good: Louise Penny and others

The tyranny of the greater good is a powerful concern in The Kingdom of the Blind. As the most deadly opiates ever made threaten to spill onto the streets of Montreal, Penny's protagonist finds his task of protecting the public more taxing than ever. Tom Nolan explains, "The better he does his job, the harder life gets for Armand Gamache."

The idea of cops having to bend rules and fight an inimical press and an unsympathetic public is a trope used by many contemporary mystery writers. Ian Rankin, Tana French, and Val McDermid also portray police officers -- sympathetic protagonists all -- who are willing to bend the rules for results they feel responsible for judging to be the greater good.