I read the first Dublin Murder Squad book, In The Woods, after it came out in 2007 and to this day it’s one of the most frustrating reading experiences I’ve ever had. The novels reached a level of mainstream success as somewhat literary works that most pulpier detective yarns don’t tend to achieve, and the series’ stature was increased further by the BBC TV series adaptation Dublin Murders, which gave the first two books that modern True Detective treatment and garnered a fair bit of critical acclaim (it says a lot about the state of Irish media that the BBC were the ones behind the show). The bulk of Tana French’s work has consisted of the Dublin Murder Squad novels, a series of loosely-connected crime stories about.well, guess. Before I talk about her latest novel, The Wych Elm, I want to briefly look back at her past career and explain why I’ve avoided her books like the plague up until now.

She’s a big deal here in her home country and well-known in the UK, but I don’t think she’s reached the same status in the US or elsewhere. If you’re outside Ireland or the UK, you may not recognize Tana French’s name.

The wych elm tana french synopsis