The French connection
'First Lady of Irish crime' returns with 'The Hunter'

You would have to have just gotten off a boat to have never read or at least heard of Irish crime writer Tana French. Viking published French’s eighth novel in April entitled, “The Hunter.” And as with all her novels, beginning in 2007 with “In the Woods” – which received instant international acclaim and sold an excess of 1 million copies in the year is was released – any book by French can be counted on as a bestseller. 

The New York Times has declared French to be “in a class by herself.” And the dust jacket goes on to say that “The Hunter” is a “nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.” Really, what else do you need to know?

Tana French

The story takes place in Ireland, mostly on the sparsely populated side of rolling hills ending in the little town of Ardnakelty, which is made up of a general store and a couple of bars. We join the story as 15-year-old Trey Reddy is ambling along a mountain trail carrying a broken chair on her back. Her dog, Banjo, whose name comes from a banjo-shaped patch of white on his belly, is scouring the side of the path, through the heath and around the bogs, intent on turning up a critter.

Trey is on her way to Cal Hooper’s place, where she and her trusted friend and mentor repair broken or discarded furnishings, which they take to the Saturday market in Kilcarrow to sell. 

Cal is a retired cop from the U.S. who came to Ireland to get over being a cop, live quietly and tinker with wood. Trey found him years before as she and Banjo were exploring the hills to get away from an unstable home with two younger siblings, an overworked, bilious mother and a long-gone father.  

Trey is smart, defiantly rebellious and talented with wood and anything she puts her mind to. And she’s bonded to Cal and his venerated friend and regular lover Lena, both of whom provide stability and genuine love for Trey.

“The Hunter” is 467 pages, way too long for those of us who read books one after another, and the story would have been just as good if the first 100 pages were reduced by half. French wrote this book during the pandemic, locked away in her Belfast home with plenty of time. 

Too many pages notwithstanding, every sentence and paragraph in every chapter could never be fairly traded for anyone’s compact, tidy and easier mystery. French’s books are good, suspenseful reading; she never misses.  

French is a natural writer. She studied to be an actor but picked up writing in between long dry spells without calls. She paints pictures with words. Her characters come alive through her words, her dialogue is whispered in our heads. Scenes are real enough to smell the cut grass and see the birds and know which path leads to Cal’s place. She’s won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry awards, and The Independent newspaper of Great Britain has labeled her “the First Lady of Irish crime.”

So one day Trey’s father Johnny Reddy comes sauntering home, dressed to the nines, perfumed, barbered, shod in expensive footwear and as charming as a time-share salesman. He’s come home to take care of his dear family, and he has a plan to get rich quick and make all his farmer neighbors wealthy. He’s met the rich Cillian Rosenborough in London, who has a map given to him by his dear departed grandmother, who lived in Ardnakelty, to dig for gold.

Johnny, in true shell-game fashion, assembles the farmers in the local bar, buys them their brews and spreads the good news – rich, damnit! Think of it; who wants in?

I’ll leave it here. 

The usual advice prevails: skip lunch and use that saved money to buy “The Hunter” at Maria’s Bookshop, and ask them for your Murder Ink 15% discount.