The Secret Place by Tana French 452 pages

Tana French is one of my new favorite authors and this book has received quite the hype, but frankly, I am disappointed.  This is the story of the lives of privileged teens in private schools.  The girls' school is St. Kilda's and the boys' school is St. Colm's.  There has been a murder of a St. Colm's boy on the grounds of St. Kilda's.  It has gone unsolved for a year.  Then, a picture of the boy, Chris Harper, with a note saying “I know who killed him", is posted to the Secret Place, a special bulletin board in an alcove at St. Kilda's where the girls can anonymously pin their innermost secrets.  Cold Case Detective Stephen Moran brings it to the attention of the acerbic Murder Squad Detective Antoinette Conway and together they try to solve the murder.  Good luck to them, navigating the secrets and emotions of teenage girls and hormonal boys.  Both schools are private, religious boarding schools but the keen eyes of nuns and priests alike does not keep the students from sneaking out at night, meeting to have sex, drink, party.  Not to mention the cruelty of the "mean" girls at St. Kilda's and the boys at St. Colm's.  My beef with the author is that there is enough angst, secrets and emotions involved with teens this age, without bringing in the hint of magical powers.  Don't get me wrong, I liked the book.  However, I much preferred some of her previous stories to this.