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Cormac Reilly, now a detective sergeant, has never forgotten the call he took as a rookie twenty years ago that led him to a dead mother in County Mayo.  There, he discovered the body of Hilaria Blake, a bed-bound alcoholic with advanced-stage liver disease, dead of an apparent drug overdose.  In the freezing, dilapidated house, he encountered Hilaria's two children—Jack and Maude—both bruised and starving, reeking of neglect.  Cormac took them to the hospital and never saw them again, although their pathetic situation never quite left his mind.

Two decades later, Cormac is back in Galway after a stint in Dublin.  Despite his work experience, he's handed cold cases to keep him busy, a not-so-subtle insult.  When a body is discovered in the river Corrib, Cormac is shocked to be called in on the case.  To his dismay, the deceased is Jack Blake, a 25-year-old civil engineer who Cormac once carried out of a ramshackle home in which lay his dead mother.  While the death is a suspected suicide, Maude—newly arrived in Ireland from her home in Australia—insists her brother did not kill himself.  While Jack's girlfriend, Aisling Conroy, isn't sure what to think, Maude tries to convince her and Cormac to look more closely at what she insists is a murder.  Cormac reluctantly does so, even though he's being pressured to arrest Maud.  When a colleague finds shocking new evidence, however, he starts to suspect Maud may be right, but can he prove it?  The case raises disturbing questions about the local police department.  Is Cormac being deliberately misled?  If so, why?  It's up to him to find out the truth before someone puts a stop to his questioning—for good.

The Ruin, a debut novel by Irish lawyer Dervla McTiernan, is the first in a new detective series featuring the likable Cormac Reilly.  It's a compelling, well-plotted mystery featuring a set of complex, intriguing story people.  The action isn't heart-pounding, but it's steady and engrossing.  I definitely had trouble putting the book down.  With an interesting setting, sympathetic characters, and a storyline that kept me guessing, The Ruin made for a very satisfying read.  I'll definitely be reading the next book in the series, The Scholar, when it comes out in March.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of crime novels by Tana French and Jane Casey) 

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For most of his 32 years, police detective Stephen Moran has been trying to rise above his "working class Dub" background.  Earning a spot on the Dublin Murder Squad would help his efforts immensely.  If only breaking into the old boys' club were that easy; Stephen might as well be wishing for a seat on the next shuttle to the moon.  In all likelihood, he'll be stuck investigating cold cases from now until forever.

Then, 16-year-old Holly Mackey walks into the police station with a tip she's only willing to share with Stephen.  Knowing this could be the golden ticket that gets him on his dream squad, he hears her out.  What he discovers is chilling.  Holly has brought him a card plucked from a bulletin board, where she and her classmates at St. Kilda's are encouraged to anonymously post their most tantalizing secrets.  The message on the card reads:  I know who killed him.  Him being Chris Harper, a 16-year-old student at a boy's school near St. Kilda's, whose head was bashed in last year.  With the crime still unsolved, Stephen smells a big opportunity to prove his worth—not just to his derisive colleagues, but also to Holly Mackey, who, in all her young innocence, believes him capable of sniffing out a murderer.  

With the help of tough, caustic Detective Antoinette Conway, Stephen hightails it to St. Kilda's to begin his investigation.  The posh boarding school in Dublin's quiet suburbs looks as benign as a sleeping kitten, but it soon becomes clear that dangerous secrets are hiding behind its gentle facade.  Unfortunately for Stephen, the biggest ones circle back to Holly and her small group of close-knit friends.  With the school's headmistress breathing down his neck, an irate Frank Mackey (Holly's father, the star of Faithful Place) watching his every move, and a gaggle of flirtatious, but reticent girls to crack, Stephen's beginning to feel as if he's in way, way over his head.  Who killed Chris Harper?  The frustrated detective is determined to find out.  Even if it means putting Holly Mackey—the girl who trusted him enough to come to him with evidence of a killer on her school campus—behind bars.

As much as I love murder mysteries set in boarding schools, I admit, the premise of The Secret Place, the newest in the Dublin Murder Squad series, does sound a little generic.  But, consider this: Tana French wrote it.  As far as mystery writers go, I've never found her equal (despite repeated Google searches for authors like Tana French) in clever plotting, intriguing characters, and tight, magnetizing prose.  She one-ups herself in The Secret Place, though, because she gives her detectives only one day to solve the puzzling crime at the center of the novel.  Given the tight timeline, you might expect a similarly narrow reading experience.  Not so.  French is skilled enough to not only create multi-layered characters, but to allow us time to know and understand them, even within the framework of a fast-paced murder investigation.  She's that good.  Her books always mesmerize me—this was no exception.  I could do without French's ever-present potty-mouth and the fact that she only writes one book every two years, but other than that, no complaints.  She's a gem.  I can't wait to see what she does next.

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Dublin Murder Squad series [In the Woods; The Likeness; Faithful Place; and Broken Harbour])

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If you've read my reviews of In the Woods or The Likeness or Faithful Place, you know I pretty much think that Irish novelist Tana French walks on water.  I mean, the girl's good.  Very, very good.  She's got a potty mouth, but still, I can't get enough of her books.  Every one of them boasts intriguing characters, complex plotting, and the kind of writing that sucks a reader in and doesn't let go.  Her newest, Broken Harbor, is no exception.  I admit it's not my favorite of French's books; even still, it kept me wholly absorbed and totally entertained.  The girl's good, I tell you, really, really good.

Like the other books in French's Dublin Murder Squad series, Broken Harbor takes a minor character from a previous novel and thrusts him into the spotlight.  This time, it's Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy (from Faithful Place).  The 42-year-old's tough-but-fair reputation has made him the squad's top detective, which is why a hot new case lands in his lap.  A family of four has been found dead in their home, a newly-constructed edifice in a half-built "luxury" community by the sea.  To Mick and his very green partner, 31-year-old Richie Curran, it seems like your everyday murder/suicide.  Except that something about the whole thing seems off.  If Patrick and Jennifer Spain were as happy together as everyone says they were, what's with all the holes in the walls of their otherwise well-kept home?  And what about the video cameras and baby monitors everywhere?  The details just don't add up.  Combined with the eeriness of the abandoned community where the Spains lived, the whole thing is just downright ... spooky.

Mick would like to get the case solved and get the heck out of Broken Harbor.  The place gives him the creeps—not just because of what happened to the Spains, but because of his own ties to the seaside spot.  Memories of his own family's Broken Harbor nightmare have already sent his little sister over the edge.  Will Mick be next?  Or will figuring out what happen to the Spains finally put his own ghosts to rest?

Although I had the killer figured out long before Mick did, I still found Broken Harbor compelling.  Not as compelling as the other books in the series, but still absorbing in the way that only a novel by Tana French can be.  I've heard other French fans say that this one felt a little formulaic and I agree, although I don't mind it as much with French as I do with less talented authors.  Still, I'm hoping she'll dazzle me with something new and original for the next book.  I have to admit, though, that I'll keep reading her anyway.  Whatever French writes, I'll devour.  Like I keep saying, the girl's that good.  

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of other novels by Tana French, especially Faithful Place)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  R for language, violence and sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find