By Tana French

Impulse led Cal Hooper, 48, to buy an abandoned cottage in rural Ireland. It gave him a reason to retire early from the Chicago Police Department and put some distance between himself and his angry ex-wife and aloof daughter.

He quickly learns how well-protected secrets are in this area. Every person he talks to and every question he asks becomes common knowledge. When he won’t listen to polite, veiled warnings to leave Brendan’s fate alone, he finds himself on the receiving end of violence.

This mystery is the first that author Tana French has set in a rural area. It is quieter and slower paced than French’s Dublin murder squad series, but just as absorbing.

Rural isolation and atmospheric weather whose behavior Hooper doesn’t understand contribute to the suspense as Hooper tries to figure out what happened to Brendan and why the community isn’t concerned as well.

And, typical of French’s novels, the mixture of good and evil, both in methods and motives, make this a haunting story.

In an interview with Molly Odintz of Crimereads, French admitted that she drew on tropes from stories of the American West to create THE SEARCHER. Cal is the stranger who walks into town and upsets the equilibrium. And like American westerns, the actions of an individual affect the whole community in ways both intentional and accidental.

It takes more than a Guinness in the pub or a friendly conversation with a shop keeper to penetrate the walls of this community.

About the Author: Tana French (1973 – )

Born in Vermont, Tana French has lived in Dublin since 1990 and has been described as “the First Lady of Irish Crime.”

Her father was an economist working on resource management in the developing world, which meant French’s family lived in many countries, including Ireland as she was growing up.

she was fascinated by both acting and writing since childhood, but eventually focused more on acting.  She trained as an actor at Trinity and works in theater, film and voiceover.