Faithful Place: Dublin Murder Squad: 3

If you are a mystery aficianado and you have not yet met Tana French, please let me introduce her to you. Ms. French's usual setting for her mysteries is Dublin, and this novel is no exception. The protaganist is Francis Mackey, an undercover policeman, who for 22 years has been avoiding his dysfunctional family. The coup de grace that got him to walk away from Faithful Place in the Liberties was the night he was supposed to elope with Rosie Daly. But Rosie never showed, and Frank blamed his family. Suddenly, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase is discovered, and the mystery begins in earnest. A word of caution, however: if you decide to enjoy a Tana French novel, you may want to start with her first, "Into the Woods," still my favorite. While her novels are in no way serials, some of the characters in previous novels recur in later ones. French's protagonists draw the reader to them because they are, like all of us, composed of special aptitudes mixed with very human character flaws.

There is no shocking ?ah ha moment? in Faithful Place and the story does not end with more questions than answers like In the Woods. In my mind the mystery is solved fairly early on, but the characters are what hooked me from the beginning and wouldn?t let go until the final page. Frank Mackey is trapped between the need to know the facts behind his first love?s disappearance and the desire to remain as far away as possible from his dysfunctional family. Tana French has a magical way of...more There is no shocking ?ah ha moment? in Faithful Place and the story does not end with more questions than answers like In the Woods. In my mind the mystery is solved fairly early on, but the characters are what hooked me from the beginning and wouldn?t let go until the final page. Frank Mackey is trapped between the need to know the facts behind his first love?s disappearance and the desire to remain as far away as possible from his dysfunctional family. Tana French has a magical way of exploring the past and present and incorporating the rich dialect and customs of Dublin.