 | |
| Author | Tana French |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Dublin Murder Squad #5 |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Publisher | Viking Penguin |
Publication date | 2014 |
| Publication place | Ireland |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 452 |
| ISBN | 978-0-670-02632-6 |
| 823/.92 - dc23 | |
The Secret Place is a 2014 novel by Tana French set in Ireland. The Washington Post named the book one of the five best thrillers of 2014. Amazon.com named it one of the best books of 2014 in the mystery, thriller and suspense category.
Much of the novel takes place at St. Kilda's, a girls' boarding school in Dublin. The chapters alternate between the points of view of detective Stephen Moran and the students of St. Kilda's.
The key characters are eight teenage girls, members of rival cliques. Chris Harper, a teenage boy, is murdered on St. Kilda's grounds. The initial police investigation is inconclusive. A year later, 16-year-old Holly volunteers information to Moran. She has discovered a picture of Chris, along with the statement "I know who killed him", posted on a school bulletin board called the "Secret Place". Moran is assigned to work with senior detective Antoinette Conway to investigate. Moran and Conway question all eight girls and find that there were some close relationships between Chris and most of the eight girls. After further investigation, they find evidence that links Chris's murder to Holly's clique. When the detectives grill Holly, her father, detective Frank Mackey, intervenes and complicates the investigation.
Several characters in The Secret Place appeared in previous novels by this author; these including Stephen Moran ( Faithful Place ), Frank Mackey ( The Likeness and Faithful Place), and Holly Mackey (Faithful Place).
The book received favorable reviews in prominent publications. Some critics took issue with the teenage characters' frequent use of slang and text messaging in plot exposition.
The Washington Post praised the novel as "another eerie triumph for French" and named her "one of today's top suspense novelists." [1] Kirkus Reviews stated that the author "has few peers in her combination of literary stylishness and intricate, clockwork plotting" and noted that "the novel explores the mysteries of friendship, loyalty and betrayal, not only among adolescents, but within the police force as well." [2]
The Boston Globe noted that French often "writes beautifully," while stating that the teenage characters' use of slang and text messaging "doesn’t kill the magic but it does slow the pace of what could have been another French triumph." [3] In a similar vein, the New York Times praised the novel as "much more than a genre piece" but noted that the teenage characters' frequent use of American slang "may not make this the most inviting milieu for those who like the sheer Irishness of her other novels." [4]
The Chain of Chance is a science fiction/detective novel by the Polish writer Stanisław Lem, published in 1976. Lem's treatment of the detective genre introduces many nontraditional elements. The reader is prompted not only to consider various suspects as possible culprits in a series of murders, but also the possibility that "there's no such thing as a mysterious event" and they have all happened purely by chance. In this way, the natural laws of probability and chaos theory play the role of suspects and characters in a murder mystery, lending elements of science fiction to the novel. The underlying philosophical idea is expanded on by Lem in his major essay The Philosophy of Chance.
In the Woods is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve-year-old girl. It is the first book in French's Dublin Murder Squad series. The novel won several awards such as the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author, the 2008 Barry Award for Best First Novel, the 2008 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel, and the 2008 Anthony Award for Best First Novel. In the Woods and The Likeness, the second book of the Dublin Murder Squad series, are the inspiration for the BBC and Starz's 2019 Dublin Murders, an eight-episode series.
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A Place of Safety is a crime novel written by English writer Caroline Graham and first published by Headline in 1999. The story follows Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby investigating the murder of a man in a village. It is the sixth volume in Graham's Chief Inspector Barnaby series, preceded by Faithful unto Death and followed by A Ghost in the Machine.
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Tana French is an American-Irish writer and theatrical actress. She is a longtime resident of Dublin, Ireland. Her debut novel In the Woods (2007), a psychological mystery, won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards for best first novel. The Independent has referred to her as "the First Lady of Irish Crime".
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Helen Holly Roth-Franta was an American writer who authored novels and short stories in the genres of spy fiction and detective fiction. She also published works under the pseudonyms P.J. Merrill and K.G. Ballard. Roth published twelve novels in her lifetime and many short stories, one of which was nominated for an Edgar Award.