I have never been much of a mystery reader. For whatever reason, I was never drawn to them. Even when I worked in a library, was responsible for displays, and had to make sure one of said displays was always a different flavor of mystery every month, I wasn’t interested. Cozy mysteries? Mysteries with pets? And what was all this fuss about Norwegian and Danish mysteries?
Reluctant Reader Becomes Obsessed
Then a friend recommended Tana French. Then a cousin. Then another friend. Pretty soon, someone was pressing her first two books into my hands, and I drove around with them in my car for several months. Finally, I picked up In the Woods, the first book in French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, and I spent the next year devouring all of the books in the series. I finished the fifth book just in time for the sixth to come out, and once I’d finished it, I admit that I felt a little lost.
Literary and Plot-Driven
What was it about these books that drew me in so swiftly and completely? I can be a picky reader sometimes, and I wasn’t sold on the genre going into it, but French pulled off something remarkable. Do you ever notice how in a lot of literary novels “nothing happens”? (To be fair, I’m shading my own work too here!). Or sometimes a novel with a great plot has fairly run-of-the-mill writing? French is able to do both and make it feel electric. With each book, she writes a mystery that follows a different detective each time, and it’s as much about the murder (there’s always a murder) as it is about unpacking the complicated psychology of the detective her/himself. You don’t have to read the books chronologically, and they can work as stand alone, but I can’t recommend enough that you read them in the order in which they were written, as each subsequent book is told from the perspective of a peripheral character from the previous book. There are some delightful Easter eggs if you go this route, too.
Not That You Asked for It….
Here is my personal ranking of French’s Dublin Murder Series (She published a stand-alone mystery last year called The Witch Elm, which I mentioned earlier this year and I gobbled that one up as well. Audiobooks, even ones about grisly murders, are dreamy when read in an Irish accent).
- The Likeness
- Broken Harbor
- In the Woods
- Faithful Place
- The Trespasser
- The Secret Place
Interestingly enough, the book told from the POV from my favorite character, Frank Mackey, is pretty far down on my list. Still, they’re all excellent, and I can’t recommend them enough. And, you know I have to mention…
An Adaptation Is Coming!
Yes, I’m here to talk about an upcoming TV version of the books, surprise, surprise. This feels like it’s been in the works forever. Years ago, there was an entirely different version and cast that was floating around the internet (and I was pretty excited because there were a lot of talented Game of Thrones alums attached), but that one has dissolved. As of now, a new version is filming in the UK, and I only recognize one cast member (Okay, also from Game of Thrones, haha), but I tend to trust British casting. It’s simply called Dublin Murders,and to start, they’re only adapting the first two books. Who knows when it will come out (and when it will appear here across the pond!), but I am very excited for this one.
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