Dennis Lehane Books in Order (Updated February 18, 2026)

Dennis Lehane is an American crime novelist whose bibliography splits cleanly into one major detective series, one historical-crime trilogy, and several standalones.

You can read the standalones in any order, but the Kenzie & Gennaro books should be read sequentially because the relationship and life events carry forward.

Choose your lane

• Series-first (best for continuity): Start with A Drink Before the War.
• Standalone-first (best for a one-book trial): Start with Mystic River or Shutter Island.
• Epic historical crime: Start with The Given Day.

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Kenzie & Gennaro series (read in order)

1. A Drink Before the War (1994): Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro take a “simple” job that drops them into Boston power games and moral compromise.
2. Darkness, Take My Hand (1996): A brutal case pulls the detectives into a predator’s orbit and tests what they’re willing to endure.
3. Sacred (1997): A missing child investigation becomes a tour through money, influence, and the costs of obsession.
4. Gone, Baby, Gone (1998): A child disappears, and the search forces choices where “right” and “legal” stop matching.
5. Prayers for Rain (1999): A woman’s apparent suicide turns into a stalking case that tightens into a personal siege.
6. Moonlight Mile (2010): Years later, an old kidnapping returns to the present and reopens debts the characters never really paid.

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Standalone novels (separate continuity)

1. Mystic River (2001): A childhood trauma and a murdered daughter fuse into a neighborhood tragedy with no clean outcomes.
2. Shutter Island (2003): A U.S. Marshal investigates a disappearance on an isolated psychiatric island where reality keeps slipping.
3. Since We Fell (2017): A woman with a fragile equilibrium is pushed into a spiraling chain of secrets and survival.
4. Small Mercies (2023): In 1974 Boston, a mother’s search for her missing daughter collides with violence, loyalty, and civic unrest.

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Joe Coughlin / “Coughlin” trilogy (read in order)

1. The Given Day (2008): A wide-canvas Boston crime novel set against early 20th-century upheaval and changing power.
2. Live by Night (2012): A gangster story shaped by Prohibition-era ambition, shifting allegiances, and the price of reinvention.
3. World Gone By (2015): The trilogy closes as old decisions corner Joe Coughlin and the future narrows.

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Recommended reading order (two straightforward plans)

Plan A: You want the full series experience first

1. A Drink Before the War (1994): Start where the partnership begins so later relationship turns don’t spoil earlier tension.
2. Continue through the Kenzie & Gennaro list in order (1994 → 2010): Treat it as one continuous character timeline.
3. Then pick any standalone that matches your mood: Mystic River for neighborhood tragedy, Shutter Island for locked-location dread.

Plan B: You want one book that tells you if Lehane works for you

1. Mystic River (2001): A complete story with no prerequisites and the clearest “Lehane at full force” snapshot.
2. If you want more: either go back to A Drink Before the War (1994) for series depth, or jump to The Given Day (2008) for scope.

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Latest Releases

Latest Releases: The recent book released by the author is: Small Mercies (April 25, 2023).

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FAQs

Do the standalones connect to the series?
No. Mystic River, Shutter Island, Since We Fell, and Small Mercies are separate continuities.

Can I read Moonlight Mile without reading Gone, Baby, Gone?
You can follow the plot, but you’ll lose the emotional weight and spoil major background. Read the series in order.

Is there a “chronological order” different from publication order?
Not meaningfully. For Lehane, publication order is the practical chronological order within each series.