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Cal Hooper

by Tana French

The Cal Hooper series by Tana French has 3 known books (3 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with The Searcher (2020). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is The Keeper.

Books
3 known books (3 novels)
Published
3
First published
2020
Status
completed
Shelved under
Mystery & Crime
Last checked

Start here: The Searcher (2020) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of The Searcher

The Searcher (2020)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. The Searcher

    Novel

    The Searcher opens the trilogy in 2020 at 400 pages, Tana French's first book after six Dublin Murder Squad novels, following retired Chicago police officer Cal Hooper as a local kid's request pulls him back into detective habits in rural Ireland.

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  2. The Hunter

    Novel

    Four years passed before The Hunter (2024) continued the story at 416 pages, bringing danger to Cal's own doorstep and drawing in Trey, the teenager he's informally taken under his wing.

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  3. The Keeper

    Novel

    The Keeper closes the trilogy in March 2026 as its longest volume at 528 pages, more than a hundred pages longer than the opener, as a young woman's death forces Ardnakelty's silences to finally break.

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About the Cal Hooper series

After six Dublin Murder Squad novels, Tana French left the city entirely for this trilogy, trading her relay of urban homicide detectives for one retired Chicago police officer trying to disappear into rural Ireland. Cal Hooper buys a run-down cottage in the fictional townland of Ardnakelty hoping for nothing more than quiet renovation work and distance from his old life. The Searcher (2020) pulls him back into detective habits when a local kid enlists his help finding a missing brother, exposing the closed, watchful community's own rules about which secrets stay buried. The Hunter (2024) brings trouble to Cal's own doorstep: a smooth operator returns to town chasing a gold-prospecting scheme, dragging Cal's makeshift found family — particularly Trey, the teenager he's informally taken under his wing — into danger. The Keeper (2026) closes the trilogy as a young woman's death forces Ardnakelty's carefully maintained silences to finally break.

Where the Dublin Murder Squad books turned on unreliable narrators unraveling their own self-deception, Cal Hooper is French's most steady, plainly decent protagonist — an outsider slowly, warily earning trust in a place that guards its business fiercely. The trilogy is as much about Cal's own reconstruction after a career and a marriage both ended badly as it is about who's lying to whom in Ardnakelty, and it confirmed French could sustain a single continuing lead across multiple books, something the Dublin series deliberately never attempted.

Frequently asked questions

How many Cal Hooper books are there?

Three: The Searcher (2020), The Hunter (2024) and The Keeper (2026), published as ‘the million-copy-bestselling Cal Hooper trilogy,’ now complete.

What order should I read the Cal Hooper books in?

Publication order, starting with The Searcher. Cal's relationships in Ardnakelty, especially with the teenager Trey, build directly across all three books.

Is Cal Hooper connected to Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series?

No. It shares no characters or setting with the Dublin Murder Squad novels; Cal Hooper is a retired Chicago police officer living in rural Ireland, an entirely separate cast and location.

Is the Cal Hooper trilogy finished?

Yes. The Keeper (2026) was published and marketed as the third and final book in the trilogy.

Do I need to read the Dublin Murder Squad books first?

No. Cal Hooper is a completely separate series with no shared continuity, and can be read with no prior knowledge of French's other work.

Reading order last verified .