Det. Antoinette Conway is thrilled to be on the murder squad, not so thrilled by the harassment, and really puzzled why the other detectives are pushing her and partner Stephen Moran to rush in and charge the boyfriend of impeccable blonde Aislinn Murray with her murder. A new look at the New York Times best-selling author's tough-guy Dublin Murder Squad.

Antoinette Conway, who played a supporting role in French's previous Dublin Murder Squad novel, The Secret Place, moves into the limelight here. She and that book's protagonist, Stephen Moran, are partnered and working well together, but they're consistently assigned the worst cases, and she's having trouble with the rest of the squad (crucial pages somehow go missing from her reports or her cell phone is dropped in coffee when she steps away from her desk), and she's considering taking a friend's offer of a cushy job traveling the world guarding Saudi princesses. When Conway realizes she'd previously met the victim of an apparently straightforward domestic murder, the case zigs and zags in unexpected and dangerous directions with local gangs, possibly corrupt cops, and a mild-mannered bookstore owner all playing a part. French's interconnected first-person novels easily stand alone, but consuming them in order gives readers the pleasure of seeing characters they've come to know through others' eyes. VERDICT Expect high demand driven by fans of the author and readers who crave tightly plotted, character-driven crime fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 4/25/16; academic & library marketing.]—Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

Det. Antoinette Conway takes center stage in Edgar-winner French's sharp but shakily paced sixth Dublin Murder Squad novel (after 2014's The Secret Place). When Aislinn Murray, a young woman just coming into her own, is found in her picture-perfect apartment with the back of her head smashed in, the killer appears to be her new boyfriend, Rory Fallon, who was due to come over for dinner the evening of her murder. But that's too easy for the suspicious Conway, whose hackles are raised when a more experienced detective takes an interest in the case and wants Rory charged. In several tense interrogation scenes, Rory's sweat practically drips off the page, and it's obvious why Conway, the only woman on the squad, is so good at her job. French is less adept than usual, however, in weaving in her main characters' backstories. The underlying themes of loyalty and how far one should go to protect a person are what makes this entry worthy of French's prodigious talents, though Conway isn't her best conduit. Agent: Darley Anderson, Darley Anderson Literary, TV & Film Agency. (Oct.)