I’ve just read my first Tana French novel, and now I may have to go read all her others. The Searcher is an elegantly and masterfully written novel. Cal Hooper is a former Chicago cop who’s moved to a rural village in Ireland for a complete change from his old life. The author takes time introducing the mystery, almost as if she’s quietly slipped it in along the way, and it works. Ms. French slowly peels back the layers as you get to know the two main characters—retiree Hooper and Trey Reddy, a kid who wants to know what happened to a missing sibling. Hooper’s not acting like a cop, but casually, sort-of, just asking around, more out of curiosity than ever being “on the case.” That’s still enough to cause him plenty of trouble.