Ireland book series in reading order

by Peter Tremayne

by Ken Bruen

by Tana French

Cora Harrison is an Irish author of historical detective fiction and of books for children. The Burren Mysteries, set in 16th-century west Ireland, and the Reverend Mother Mystery series, set in 1920s Cork during the Irish Civil War, are two of Harrison's crime sequences; a third puts Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to work as amateur detectives in 19th-century London. The catalogue holds 67 books from Nuala and Her Secret Wolf (1997) to Murder in the Mist (2023), including the Drumshee Timeline and Drumshee Chronicles, Willowgrove Village Mysteries and Hugh Mac Egan Mysteries.

Edna O’Brien

47 books• 3 series

Edna O'Brien was an Irish novelist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. The Country Girls (1960) opens the catalogue and was banned and denounced from the pulpit for breaking the silence around sexual and social matters in post-war Ireland. Forty-five titles are catalogued to 2022, among them Girl with Green Eyes (1962), Girls in Their Married Bliss (1964), August Is A Wicked Month (1965) and Night (1973). The inner lives of women, Ireland, and mothers and daughters are the constant subjects.

Irish history and myth are Morgan Llywelyn's material. Born in 1937, the American-Irish novelist has sold more than 40 million copies of her historical and mythological fiction and took the Exceptional Celtic Woman of the Year Award in 1999. Lion of Ireland (1980), The Horse Goddess (1982) and Bard (1984) sit in the Celtic World sequence, alongside the Irish Century and Druids series. Forty-one catalogued books span The Wind from Hastings (1978) to Glendower: The Last Prince of Wales (2023).

Peter Tremayne

67 books• 3 series

Peter Tremayne is a pseudonym of Peter Berresford Ellis, a British historian, literary biographer and novelist born on 10 March 1943. Ellis has published more than 98 books under that name and as Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan, along with 100 short stories, and the work has appeared in 25 languages. As Tremayne, Ellis writes the Sister Fidelma historical mysteries, an international bestseller. The catalogue lists 67 titles from 1974 to 2026, opening with The Cornish Language and its Literature, issued under the Ellis name. Dracula Unborn and Hound of Frankenstein (both 1977) follow, and Blood on the Wind (2026) is the newest. Nuns, the Celtic Church, Ireland and horror appear in the subject tags.

Graham Masterton

157 books• 11 series

Graham Masterton is a British author, born in Edinburgh in 1946 and known primarily for horror fiction. Masterton edited Mayfair and the British edition of Penthouse before his first novel, The Manitou, appeared in 1976 and was filmed in 1978. Charnel House (1978) took a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, and Tengu (1983) a silver medal from the West Coast Review of Books. The catalogue holds 157 books from 1971 onward, with the Katie Maguire, Jim Rook, Harry Erskine and Night Warriors series inside it, and runs to House of Flies (2025).

Roddy Doyle

33 books• 4 series

Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter, born in 1958. Ireland, and working-class Dublin in particular, is where Doyle sets the work, written with dialogue in slang and Irish English. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha took the Booker Prize in 1993. The catalogue holds 33 books, from The Commitments (1987), filmed in 1991, to The Women Behind the Door (2024), and takes in the Barrytown Trilogy, the Last Roundup and the Rover Adventures written for children. Friendship, families, brothers and humorous stories carry the subject tags.

Frank Delaney

30 books• 3 series

Frank Delaney was an Irish novelist, journalist and broadcaster. His novel Ireland became a New York Times bestseller and named the series it belongs to, and Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea is one of his non-fiction books. The catalogue holds 30 titles, from James Joyce's Odyssey in 1981 to Undead in 2013, taking in The Celts (1986), A Walk In The Dark Ages (1988) and Legends of the Celts (1989). Irish history, literary landmarks and travel run through the work.

Ken Bruen has 47 books in the catalogue, from Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities (1992) to Galway's Edge (2025). Bruen, an Irish author of hardboiled and noir crime fiction, was born on 3 January 1951 and died on 29 March 2025. Series include Jack Taylor, Inspector Brant and Max and Angela. Early titles include Rilke on Black (1997), The Hackman Blues (1997), A White Arrest (1998) and The Guards (2001). Subjects include private investigators, ex-police officers, Ireland, London and the characters Detective Sergeant Brant and Chief Inspector Roberts.

Nora Roberts

279 books• 37 series

Nora Roberts, born Eleanor Marie Robertson on October 10, 1950, is an American writer of romance under that name. As J. D. Robb, Roberts writes police procedurals with science-fiction elements, and has also published as Jill March and, in the UK, as Sarah Hardesty. This listing carries 280 Roberts books, opening with Irish Thoroughbred (1981); The Missing is scheduled for 2027. Series on the page include the In Death Universe, the MacGregors, Night Tales, the Calhoun Women, the Chesapeake Bay Saga, Irish Hearts and the O'Hurleys.

Maeve Binchy

47 books• 6 series

Irish writer Maeve Binchy was born on 28 May 1939 and died on 30 July 2012. Binchy worked as a novelist, playwright, columnist and speaker, and wrote short stories. Binchy's novels portray small-town Irish life with sympathy and humour, often closing on a surprise ending. Translations reached 37 languages and sales passed 40 million copies. In the US, Binchy's work was selected for Oprah's Book Club and reached The New York Times Best Seller list. The catalogue lists 47 titles from Central Line (1978) to Maeve Binchy's Treasury (2021), including Light a Penny Candle (1982) and Circle of Friends (1990).

Patrick Taylor's Irish Country novels follow two doctors, Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly and Barry Laverty, in rural Northern Ireland. A second line, the Irish Troubles books, turns to political violence. Taylor's catalogue holds 23 titles, from The West Clare Railway (1994) to An Irish Country Yuletide (2021), with short stories and non-fiction alongside. No new Taylor title has appeared since 2021.

Cathy Kelly writes women's fiction. Twenty-seven books are catalogued from Woman To Woman (1997) to The Island Retreat (2026), most of them standalone novels, with short stories and novellas beside them. Ireland, families, sisters, female friendship and life change events recur as subjects. Kelly, born in 1966, worked as a journalist before this, and Someone Like You took the Romantic Novelists' Association award for Romantic Novel of the Year in 2001. The median book runs 455 pages.

Tana French is an Irish crime writer and stage actress, born in 1973 and living in Dublin. French's first novel, In the Woods (2007), is a psychological mystery that took the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry awards for best first novel. The catalogue lists 10 books from 2007 to 2026, including The Likeness, Faithful Place and Broken Harbour, grouped into the Dublin Murder Squad, the Cal Hooper books and standalone novels. The newest title is The Keeper (2026). The Independent has labelled French "the First Lady of Irish Crime".

Carlene O'Connor writes cozy mystery fiction set largely in Ireland. The catalogue runs to 30 books published between 2006 and 2026, opening with She'll Take It (2006) under the pen name Mary Carter and reaching Murder at an Irish Session in 2026. Irish Village Mystery, County Kerry Mystery, Home to Ireland Mystery and June's Journey Mystery are the four series carrying the O'Connor name. Murder, investigation and Irish village life are the recurring subjects, and O'Connor remains actively publishing.

Cozy mysteries filled Sheila Connolly's list: the Orchard Mysteries around apple growing, the Museum Mysteries in Philadelphia, the County Cork books in Ireland, a Victorian Village series and the Relatively Dead novels. One Bad Apple (2008) opens 51 catalogued books, which end at Fatal Roots in 2020, with the early glassblowing titles written as Sarah Atwell.

Cecelia Ahern

31 books• 6 series

Cecelia Ahern is an Irish novelist, born in Dublin on 30 September 1981. PS, I Love You (2003) begins a catalogue of 31 titles that reaches Paper Heart in 2025, and Where Rainbows End and If You Could See Me Now are the other novels Ahern is known for. Sales pass 25 million copies, publication reaches nearly fifty countries, two of the books have been adapted as films, and the story collection Roar became a series for Apple TV+. The Year I Met You took the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction. Ahern also created and produced Samantha Who?, an ABC comedy starring Christina Applegate.

Roisin Meaney, born in 1959, is an Irish novelist living in West Clare. Families, female friendship, sisters and the secrets that bind them are the recurring subjects, and Ireland is the constant setting. Twenty-five books are catalogued between 2004 and 2026, opening with The Daisy Picker and reaching Second Chances. Several carry two titles, among them Love in the Making, also published as Semi-Sweet. Meaney writes for children as well as adults.

Monica McInerney is an Australian-born novelist based in Dublin, published worldwide and in more than a dozen languages. Families, sisters and the traffic between Australia and Ireland supply the material, with food and wine recurring. A Taste For It (2001) opens the catalogue, and The Alphabet Sisters (2004), Family Baggage (2005), The Faraday Girls (2007) and Lola's Secret (2011) follow. Sixteen books are catalogued through When Sullivan Met Lola (2026), at a median length of 463 pages.

Adrian McKinty's best known series follows Detective Sean Duffy through police investigations in Northern Ireland. McKinty also wrote the Michael Forsythe crime novels and the Lighthouse Trilogy for younger readers, which turns to magic and to space and time. Twenty-three books are catalogued, from Orange Rhymes With Everything (1997) to Hang on St. Christopher in 2025.

Carla Neggers writes romance and romantic suspense, with 83 books in the catalogue published from 1982 to 2019. Dream Images (1982) is the earliest, followed by Midsummer Dreams (1982), Tangled Promises (1982) and Dancing Season (1983). Rival's Break (2019) is the newest title, and the catalogue is likely complete. Neggers series include Sharpe & Donovan, Swift River Valley, Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals, Black Falls, Boston Police/FBI and Texas Rangers/Carriage House. Subjects include contemporary romance, missing persons, murder investigations and the FBI.

Claire Keegan

6 books• 1 series

Claire Keegan, born 1968, is an Irish author of short stories and novellas. Keegan's stories have run in The New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, Granta and The Paris Review, and two of the novellas have been adapted as films. The catalogue lists 6 books: Antarctica (1999), Walk the Blue Fields (2007), Foster (2010), The Forester's Daughter (2019), Small Things Like These (2020) and So Late in the Day (2023). Ireland and foster care are among the subjects.

Murder and investigation in Ireland anchor Jo Spain's crime fiction. Fourteen catalogued books run from With Our Blessing in 2015 to Never To Be Found in 2026, split between the Inspector Tom Reynolds mysteries and a line of standalone thrillers that takes in The Confession (2018) and Dirty Little Secrets (2019). Secrecy, public office and death recur as subjects, and Spain continues to publish.

Andrea Carter writes the Inishowen Mysteries, crime novels set in Ireland with Benedicta O'Keeffe and Tom Molloy as recurring figures. Six books are catalogued: Death at Whitewater Church (2015), Treacherous Strand (2016), The Well of Ice (2017), Murder at Greysbridge (2018), The Body Falls (2020) and Death Writes (2023). The series mixes amateur detection with legal plots. Nothing has been catalogued since 2023.

Ireland supplies both the setting and the subject of Felicity Hayes-McCoy's books. Her 13 catalogued titles run from Finn's Thumb (2008) to The Heart of Summer (2020) and divide between the Finfarran Peninsula novels and books on Irish life and landscape such as The House on an Irish Hillside (2012), Enough Is Plenty (2015) and Dingle and Its Hinterland (2017). Social life and customs, history, homes and genealogy make up the listed subjects.