Tana French is among the small group of mystery writers whom I most admire.  “The Keeper” builds upon the first eight books in this series that has earned her the sobriquet of ‘first lady of Irish mysteries’.

French takes us back to Ardnakelty, a small town on Ireland’s west coast where the sheep farming community is threatened by a local bigwig who is buying up land for a factory.  Cal Hooper, a retired Chicago detective, has moved there in order to find peace and quiet.  He and a local widow, Lena, are engaged, and both are deeply involved in helping Trey, a troubled adolescent   from a rough family.  When Rachel Houlihan, a friend of Trey’s and a girlfriend of the bigwig’s son is found drowned in the local river, the town erupts with gossip, tension, and suppressed volence. Was it suicide or murder, and if the latter, who did it?

Cal becomes involved in resolving this question along with his mates from the local pub, especially Mart, his sheep-farming neighbor and local manipulator.  We meet lots of colorful characters, many of whom have appeared in earlier books in this fine series, and the book concludes with a number of surpise twists and turns.

It’s hard to classify this as a ‘mystery’ since French writes with beauty and lyric smoothness. Her descriptions of the land, the weather, and the village hierarchy are precise and evocative, and her plot, as in the other volumes, is brilliant and complex.

If you’re looking for a summer beach read, this nearly 500 page book is a bit heavy to lie on your tummy, but it’s worth the effort.  As the book ends, the remaining question is whether Cal, Lena, and Trey are finished and Adnakelty will fade into history, or whether they’ll reappear in a few years and delight me once again.