TheWell Bookshop

Series · mystery

Rune

by Jeffery Deaver

The Rune series by Jeffery Deaver has 3 known books (3 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Manhattan Is My Beat (1988). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is Hard News.

Books
3 known books (3 novels)
Published
3
First published
1988
Status
completed
Shelved under
Mystery & Crime
Last checked

Start here: Manhattan Is My Beat (1988) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of Manhattan Is My Beat

Manhattan Is My Beat (1988)

Reading order

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

  1. Manhattan Is My Beat

    Novel

    Manhattan Is My Beat (1988) is Jeffery Deaver's debut novel and the first of three cases for Rune, his single-named video-store-clerk sleuth, launching the earliest series in his body of work.

    View book

  2. Death of a Blue Movie Star

    Novel

    At 336 pages, Death of a Blue Movie Star (1990) is the longest of the three Rune novels, continuing Jeffery Deaver's earliest series two years after Manhattan Is My Beat and pulling his single-named video-store-clerk sleuth deeper into 1980s New York's underground film world.

    View book

  3. Hard News

    Novel

    Hard News closes the Rune trilogy in 1991 at 291 pages, sending the amateur filmmaker-sleuth into the world of cutthroat local television news -- the last case before Deaver moved on to the forensic experts and kinesics analysts who'd define the rest of his career.

    View book

About the Rune series

Rune is a young, single-named video store clerk and aspiring documentary filmmaker in 1980s New York who investigates crimes with a camera as often as with logic, treating each case as raw footage for the film she's always trying to make. It's the earliest series Jeffery Deaver wrote, launched with Manhattan Is My Beat in 1988, and its offbeat, artistically-minded amateur sleuth stands apart from the professional investigators (cops, forensic experts, kinesics analysts) who populate the rest of his body of work.

Across three novels Rune's cases move through the New York film and media world Deaver mined for period atmosphere — video piracy, underground pornography, and cutthroat local television news in Hard News (1991) — giving the trilogy a distinctly late-1980s New York flavor. It's a curiosity for readers who want to see Deaver's earliest voice before the Lincoln Rhyme series defined his signature style.

Frequently asked questions

How many Rune books are there?

Three novels: Manhattan Is My Beat (1988), Death of a Blue Movie Star (1990) and Hard News (1991).

What order should I read the Rune books in?

Publication order. The trilogy is complete and each book is a self-contained mystery.

Is Rune connected to Deaver's other series?

No — it's his earliest series, with an entirely separate cast, written before Lincoln Rhyme.

Is there a new Rune book coming?

No. The trilogy has been complete since Hard News (1991).

Reading order last verified .