Inspector Armand Gamache is the protagonist of How the Light Gets In and the central character of Penny’s mystery series. Throughout the Inspector Gamache series, the eponymous character is presented as a strong, kind, and patient man who sees what others ignore. Gamache is “clean-shaven and looked every inch what he was. A man on the far side of fifty. Not necessarily handsome but distinguished. More like a professor than a cop” (14). Gamache is repeatedly described as tall and “solid,” a trait that describes his personality as much as his physique. In How the Light Gets In, he is more weary than prior novels. He has a slight tremor in his hand and a scar as a reminder of the horrific terrorist attack that wounded him and took the lives of many of his agents. The reader wonders, like his last faithful agent, “Was the now relentless buffeting beginning to wear deeper lines and crevices? Were cracks beginning to show?” (14).

In How the Light Gets In, Gamache leads a small but courageous group against the might of the Sûreté. He encourages those around him to be better, even agents who are willfully incompetent. When speaking with an agent transferred from the serious crimes division, Gamache acknowledges that this young man “must have seen some terrible things” and that it is “difficult not to grow cynical” (17).