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Series · mystery
Dublin Murder Squad
The Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French has 6 known books (6 published). It is best read in publication order, starting with In the Woods (2007). The Trespasser is the latest book with a fully recorded publication date.
- Books
- 6 known books (6 novels)
- Published
- 6
- First published
- 2007
- Status
- completed
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
Start here: In the Woods (2007)
— then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
In the Woods
In the Woods is the first novel in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, a mystery title, published in 2007 at 578 pages. It opens the series that ran from 2007 to 2016, and is followed by The Likeness. Alternative text for cover: Cover of In the Woods - Book 2:
The Likeness
The Likeness is the 2nd novel in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, published in 2008 at 466 pages. It follows In the Woods and precedes Faithful Place in the reading order. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Likeness - Book 3:
Faithful Place
Faithful Place is the 3rd novel in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, published in 2010 at 448 pages. It follows The Likeness and precedes Broken Harbour in the reading order. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Faithful Place - Book 4:
Broken Harbour
Broken Harbour is the 4th novel in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, published in 2012 at 544 pages. It follows Faithful Place and precedes The Secret Place in the reading order. Alternative text for cover: Cover of Broken Harbour - Book 5:
The Secret Place
The Secret Place is the 5th novel in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, published in 2014 at 518 pages. It follows Broken Harbour and precedes The Trespasser in the reading order. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Secret Place - Book 6:
The Trespasser
The Trespasser is the 6th novel in Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series, published in 2016 at 488 pages. It follows The Secret Place in the reading order. It's the final book in a series that ran from 2007 to 2016. Alternative text for cover: Cover of The Trespasser
Key facts about the Dublin Murder Squad series
Our list has 6 books in the Dublin Murder Squad series. Since all 6 are out now, you can read the whole list today.
Start with In the Woods, since it opens the publication order in 2007. The Likeness is book 2, from 2008. Faithful Place is book 3, from 2010.
Broken Harbour is book 4, from 2012. The Secret Place is book 5, from 2014. The Trespasser is book 6, from 2016.
The list keeps the books in date order, while each title links to its own page. Each book page shows its dates and editions.
The Trespasser is the latest book with a full release date, out on 4 October 2016. Since the catalogue marks the series as complete, we list no next book.
The books came out between 2007 and 2016, while their length runs from 448 to 578 pages. That is a run of 9 years.
Tana French has 10 books on our list. Additionally, they write Cal Hooper. We shelve the books under mystery.
About the Dublin Murder Squad series
Tana French reinvented the police-procedural series with a simple, radical structure: the Dublin Murder Squad books share a world but not a hero. Each novel is narrated by a different detective — usually someone glimpsed at the edge of the previous book — and each narrator gets one case that cracks their life open. In In the Woods (2007, winner of the Edgar for best first novel), Rob Ryan investigates a child's murder in the same wood where his own childhood friends vanished. His partner Cassie Maddox takes over for The Likeness, going undercover as a dead woman who was living under Cassie's old alias. Frank Mackey, the manipulative undercover boss, narrates Faithful Place; ambitious by-the-book Scorcher Kennedy gets the ghost-estate horror of Broken Harbour; cold, watchful Stephen Moran works a boarding-school murder in The Secret Place; and abrasive Antoinette Conway, the squad's only woman, closes the series with The Trespasser.
French writes crime as psychological excavation: her mysteries resolve, mostly, but the real subject is the narrator's self-deception, and she is one of the few writers in the genre willing to leave certain wounds unexplained. Add prose of genuinely literary voltage and a decade-spanning portrait of boom-and-bust Ireland, and you get the series that made "literary crime" a shelf of its own. Complete at six books, it remains the standard against which character-driven detective fiction is measured.
Frequently asked questions
How many Dublin Murder Squad books are there?
Six: In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbour, The Secret Place and The Trespasser. The series concluded in 2016.
What order should I read the Dublin Murder Squad books in?
Publication order, starting with In the Woods — each narrator debuts as a side character in an earlier book. But every novel stands alone, so out-of-order reading works better here than in most series.
Do the Dublin Murder Squad books have the same main character?
No — that's the series' signature. Each book is narrated by a different Murder Squad detective, usually someone met briefly in a previous installment.
Does In the Woods answer its central mystery?
Only one of them. The murder case is solved; the narrator's childhood disappearance famously is not, and no later book resolves it.
Will there be more Dublin Murder Squad books?
Tana French has moved on to standalones and the Cal Hooper novels, and has not announced a seventh squad book; the series is considered complete.
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