Ben Abbott
mystery
Series · crime fiction
Kenzie & Gennaro
The Kenzie & Gennaro series by Dennis Lehane has 6 known books (6 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with A Drink Before the War (1994). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is Moonlight Mile. The series is complete.
- Books
- 6 known books (6 novels)
- Published
- 6
- First published
- 1994
- Status
- complete
- Shelved under
- Mystery & Crime
- Last checked
Start here: A Drink Before the War (1994) — 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:
A Drink Before the War
A Drink Before the War debuted the Kenzie & Gennaro series on 1 January 1994, introducing Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro's two-person Dorchester investigation office at 336 pages -- the start of Lehane's tight, first-person Kenzie voice.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of A Drink Before the War - Book 2:
Darkness, Take My Hand
Darkness, Take My Hand followed in 1996 at 455 pages -- nearly 120 pages longer than A Drink Before the War -- deepening Kenzie and Gennaro's found family, including the volatile, magnetic Bubba Rogowski.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Darkness, Take My Hand - Book 3:
Sacred
The third book, Sacred , appeared in 1997 at 368 pages, continuing Lehane's pattern of a new Kenzie & Gennaro novel almost every year since 1994.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Sacred - Book 4:
Gone, Baby, Gone
Gone, Baby, Gone , the fourth entry, was published in 1998 at 448 pages, centering on a missing girl case that forces Kenzie and Gennaro into an agonising ethical choice -- one Moonlight Mile revisits eleven years later.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Gone, Baby, Gone - Book 5:
Prayers for Rain
Prayers for Rain , the fifth novel, arrived in 1999 at 406 pages, closing out Lehane's run of five Kenzie & Gennaro books in as many years before he stepped away to write standalone literary crime fiction.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Prayers for Rain - Book 6:
Moonlight Mile
Moonlight Mile closes the series at 368 pages, arriving in 2010 -- eleven years after Prayers for Rain , by far the longest gap between any two books in the run.
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Moonlight Mile
About the Kenzie & Gennaro series
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro run a two-person private investigation office out of a church belfry in Boston's Dorchester neighbourhood, working cases that keep dragging them into the working-class, Irish-Catholic world they both grew up in and never fully escaped. Dennis Lehane built the series around a tight, first-person Kenzie voice and a moral seriousness unusual for hardboiled detective fiction: the cases -- a missing girl, a serial predator preying on children, a kidnapping that forces an agonising ethical choice -- consistently ask what a person owes their community, their partner, and their own conscience, not just whodunit. Kenzie and Gennaro's on-again, off-again partnership, both professional and romantic, and their evolving found family (including the volatile, magnetic Bubba Rogowski) run through all six books.
Lehane wrote the first five novels in quick succession through the 1990s, then walked away from the series to write standalone literary crime fiction -- Mystic River and Shutter Island among them -- before returning eleven years later with Moonlight Mile, which catches up with Kenzie and Gennaro as married parents confronting the now-adult version of the missing girl from Gone, Baby, Gone.
Frequently asked questions
How many Kenzie & Gennaro books are there?
Six, published between 1994 and 2010: A Drink Before the War, Darkness Take My Hand, Sacred, Gone Baby Gone, Prayers for Rain, and Moonlight Mile.
What order should I read Kenzie & Gennaro in?
Publication order -- the relationship between Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, and the supporting cast, develop continuously across the books.
Do I need to read Gone, Baby, Gone before Moonlight Mile?
Yes -- Moonlight Mile is a direct sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone, returning to the same missing-child case eleven years later.
Is the series connected to Mystic River or Shutter Island?
No, those are standalone Lehane novels set in the same general Boston milieu but with no shared characters or plot connections to Kenzie & Gennaro.
If you like the Kenzie & Gennaro series
Reading order last verified .