Detective drama
Author Tana French talks Murder Squad mysteries
Tana French has lived in the United States, Italy and Malawi, but her themes of identity, justice and the past are most evocative of her home for the past 26 years: Dublin, Ireland. She studied acting at Trinity College in Dublin and, intriguingly, she populates her Dublin Murder Squad series with an ensemble cast.
Her protagonists are all members of the Murder Squad team of detectives, but the lead investigators change from book to book, with a cast member stepping into the spotlight, then receding to a supporting role for the next book.
This “chain-link” series has produced five books, critical raves and a spate of awards. “The Trespasser,” the sixth novel in the series, was released Tuesday. She recently discussed her background, books and writing process.
Q: You’re an actress, and you’ve lived in many different places. How does your background inform your writing?
A: I’ve lived in different places, and this is one of the reasons I tend to write about people who are deeply rooted in Ireland. It’s what you don’t know that is most fascinating. Because I grew up moving around, I was fascinated by people who had deep roots, and Ireland has a heritage that is present in its current way of life.
Q: You mention writing about the Irish, and I’m reminded of Yeats’ quote: “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.” Your characters seem unable to enjoy themselves fully.
A: Characters who are too purely content aren’t that interesting to read about. My motto as a writer is: “When in doubt, mess with your narrator’s head.” And, yes, that kind of cynicism is definitely an Irish trait.
Q: In your last novel, “The Secret Place,” you tackled the world of teenagers. What prompted you to write about that subject?
A: I was interested in the relationship between secrets and identity. Teenagers are fragile, and they are trying to construct their own identity, even as they have instincts pulling them in different directions and people telling them who they are supposed to be. How do you balance that? It’s also a time when your secrets are precious currencies. You want to tell your friends who you are with intimate depth, but you also fear that revelation can damage you. For a mystery writer, secrets are always going to be interesting.
Q: How did you get the teenagers’ language down?
A: I’m exactly the wrong age to write a book about teenagers. I’m too old to know teenagers, but I’m too young to have teenagers, so I lurked around bus stops when school was letting out, and I listened. One of the things I forgot is that they can all talk at once and still hear each other, and I forgot how intense they get. Interestingly, I don’t think I was ever noticed. I was this 30-something woman standing there, and I didn’t exist in their world.
Q: J.D. Salinger hung out in soda shops to capture the language he used for “The Catcher in the Rye.”
A: Well, I am in very good company. I think it’s easier for a woman. You look a little less sinister.
Q: Speaking of sinister, tell us about “The Trespasser.”
A: Antoinette Conway is a murder detective. She is good at her job, but she is a poor compromiser, and she doesn’t get along well with her colleagues. She’s considering quitting, but a case comes in which, at first glance, seems to be a lovers’ quarrel that ended in death. But Antoinette has seen the victim (a young woman named Aislinn) before, and evidence keeps coming in that can be read in multiple ways. It’s clear that somebody on their squad is pushing hard for them to arrest the boyfriend and close the case. And Conway and her partner, Stephen, need to figure out why. Q: In all of your books, there is some intradepartmental strife. A: Yes, each book of my books has a core location and, in “The Trespasser,” it’s definitely the squad room. It is an elite location where people are incredibly focused and invested in chasing down whatever variant of truth or justice or closure they are looking for.
Q: Tell us about the title, “The Trespasser.”
A: Who is the trespasser? Is it the person who came into Aislinn’s home and killed her? Or is it Aislinn herself, who, as we find out, is trespassing on another’s life? Or is Antoinette the trespasser, by being an outsider in her own department? And there’s also the religious sense of the word. Who has trespassed in this book? How does one decide? This book is about invasion, about invading people’s lives and spaces in multiple ways.
Q: Spaces take on great importance in your works.
A: Places are practically characters in my novels. Places are one of the first things that I come up with when I am writing a book. I come up with a core place, and if I don’t have a core place, I don’t really know how to start the book. That place is where the book draws its power from, and I think that might have something to do with having grown up moving around and thinking about roots and what they mean. Mike Yawn is the director of the Center for Law, Engagement and Politics at Sam Houston State University.