BROKEN HARBOUR follows Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy and his rookie partner Richie as they investigate the murder of a family in an abandoned development community. As the pair arrive, the children and father lay lifeless, but the mother is still clinging to life. As the picture develops and suspects come into focus, can Mick and Richie put the pieces together to close the case?

As always, Tana French has knocked it out of the park with another instalment of her Dublin Murder Squad series. This time, she plucked a minor character from A FAITHFUL PLACE and ran with him; fully fleshing him out and giving him a uniqueness all his own. Mick suffers from an often chaotic personal life beginning with the untimely passing of his mother when he was a young man, to his erratic, mentally unstable sister who causes an unending amount of frustration to both himself and his sister. To counter-balance that disorder, Mick searches for law and order in his professional life in an effort to assert some kind of control.

Richie, a new recruit to the department, counterpoints Mick’s desire to make this an open and shut case by throwing out other “what-if”scenarios, allowing the plot to breathe and expand beyond Mick’s single-minded obsession with who he believes to be the guilty party.

Like French’s other entries in the series, she once again excelled with her character work thus shifting the focus more so away from a whodunit to an exploration of mental health and guilt. The best mystery novels aren’t so much about the mystery than they are about the players. I mean, look at Raymond Chandler, he didn’t even know who killed off a titular character in THE BIG SLEEP.

That’s not to say the structure isn’t there for a strong mystery. I did think I had it sewn up, much like Mick, but when things took a strong turn, I audibly gasped when a key moment was revealed. It’s a heartbreaking read and a strong social commentary about the fleeting nature of financial stability.

BROKEN HARBOUR continues a streak of excellence that French has established in her acclaimed Dublin Murder Squad series and I cannot wait to dive into the remaining two novels.