Tana French Books in Order (Dublin Murder Squad)

American writer Tana French is known as “the First Lady of Irish Crime,” it may sound strange when you say it like this, but the author of the Dublin Murder Squad has lived in Dublin since 1990-and even attended Trinity College Dublin (where she trained to become a professional actor).

Even if, since her first psychological mystery novel was published in 2007 (and she won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards for best first novel), Tana French is mostly known for her main Dublin Murder series, but she also writes standalone novels.

How to read Tana French’s Books in Order?

The Dublin Murder Squad series in order

The Dublin Murder Squad series (see dedicated reading order) is about the Irish detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox and their investigations. You can read them in publication order, but it is not an obligation. It is sometimes recommended to read “In The Woods” and “The Likeness” later in the series. Reading them together is better, but the first one is the most divisive book in the series. So, you can pass them to go to “Faithful Place” or “Broken Harbour”. Your choice!

1. In The Woods (2007) – In a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery.
2. The Likeness (2008) – It’s six months later and Cassie Maddox has transferred out of the Dublin Murder squad. But an urgent telephone call beckons Cassie to a grisly crime scene. The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used as an undercover cop. Suddenly, Cassie must discover not only who killed this girl, but, more importantly, who is this girl?
3. Faithful Place (2010) – Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was a nineteen-year-old kid with a dream of escaping his family’s cramped flat on Faithful Place and running away to London with his girl, Rosie Daly. But on the night they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn’t show. Frank took it for granted that she’d dumped him. He never went home again. Neither did Rosie. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie’s suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank, now a detective in the Dublin Undercover squad, is going home whether he likes it or not.

4. Broken Harbour (2012) – Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy plays by the book and plays hard. That’s why he’s the Dublin Murder Squad’s top detective, and that’s what puts the biggest case of the year in his hands. On one of the half-abandoned “luxury” developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care. At first, Scorcher thinks it’s going to be an easy solve, but too many small things can’t be explained. And this neighborhood – once called Broken Harbor – holds memories for Scorcher and his troubled sister Dina: childhood memories that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control.
5. The Secret Place (2014) – Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join Dublin Murder Squad when sixteen-year-old Holly Mackey arrives in his office with a photo of a popular boy whose body was found at a girls’ boarding school a year earlier. The photo had been posted at The Secret Place, the schools anonymous gossip board and the caption says I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM. Stephen, joins with Detective Antoinette Conway, reopen the case.
6. The Trespasser (2016) – Detective Antoinette Conway teams up with Steve to resolve Aislinn Murray’s murder. There’s nothing unusual about her-except other detectives are trying to push Antoinette and Steve into arresting Aislinn’s boyfriend, fast. There’s a shadowy figure at the end of Antoinette’s road. Aislinn’s friend is hinting that she knew Aislinn was in danger. And everything they find out about Aislinn takes her further from the glossy, passive doll she seemed to be.

The Cal Hooper Series in Order

1. The Searcher (2020) – Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.
2. The Hunter (2024) – Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protection. What she wants is revenge.

Other Novels by Tana French

• The Witch Elm (2018) – Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who’s dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life-he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family’s ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden-and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.

If you like Tana French, you may also want to see our Louise Penny reading order, or our guide to Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series. Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to discover more book series.