The Trespasser

In the sixth entry of French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, Detectives Steve Moran and Antoinette Conway investigate the death of a young woman fatally battered in her apartment. Whereas 2014’s The Secret Place was told from Steve’s perspective, the events this time around are described by Antoinette. Both the procedural progress and the narrative attitude seem edgier, faster paced, and fueled by more tension. But the warts-and-all portrait of Antoinette is at the heart of the novel, and reader Fay’s ability to mix the natural lyric quality of her Irish brogue with Antoinette’s working class, chip-on-shoulder hostility makes for a fully sustained, award-worthy performance. A Viking hardcover. (Oct.)