Clued In
How a Crossword Puzzle Led Me to the Novels of Tana French
“____ French, Irish suspense writer (four letters).”
That was the crossword puzzle clue I came across three months ago. At first glance, I had no idea who the mystery writer was. I skipped over the clue, confident that when I filled in more spaces on the crossword, I would have the answer. And twenty minutes later, I was proved correct. Solving the adjacent across and down clues gave me the letters I needed to spell “Tana.” Although I had never heard of an author named Tana French, the answer key at the back of the puzzle book confirmed my findings.
The next day, while browsing through the fiction section at the local library, I pulled out a book titled The Searcher. And whether it was pure coincidence, serendipity, or synchronicity, the book’s author was my crossword puzzle solution, Tana French.
I checked the book, drove home, and dove into the world of Tana French. And I discovered that, unlike what I inferred from the crossword clue, she is not just a suspense or mystery writer; she is much more.
Her novels, mostly set in Dublin and its surroundings, do frequently contain deaths, often of a suspicious nature. There are numerous investigations, often featuring the Dublin police’s Murder Squad, or a retired Chicago cop named Cal Hooper (no word on whether he is a White Sox fan). But the themes that occupy at least two-thirds of each novel are about the nature of relationships, families, and the law. Even Broken Harbor’s Detective Michael Kennedy, who is proud of seeing everything as black or white with no shades of gray, is confronted by a situation in which right is inseparable from wrong, and justice is shaded by humanity.
I have now completed seven of French’s novels. Number eight is on my nightstand. It’s another Murder Squad book, but I know that the “who” and the “how” of the whodunit will be secondary to the “why” of the killer, and the inner workings of whichever detective pulls the assignment. That is the way Ms. French keeps us coming back for more.
And when I’m not reading her novels, I will keep doing those tricky crossword puzzles, always on the lookout for another writer to grab me via the clues and send me on another reading odyssey.
Who are your favorite authors? How do you choose new ones? Do you have a preferred genre? Let me know lesrraffblogger@myyahoo.com. Or leave your comments on Substack or Facebook. Feedback is always welcome.