Dervla McTiernan writes in two clear modes: a continuing Irish police series starring Cormac Reilly, and standalone crime thrillers you can read without any setup.
Order matters for Cormac because the personal consequences stack up across books. Order does not matter for the standalones because they do not share continuity.
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A quick “bookstore shelf” guide
If you want one long, ongoing storyline
Pick the Cormac Reilly shelf → start with The Ruin.
If you want a one-book commitment
Pick a standalone → choose by premise below.
If you want the newest story-world first
- Latest Cormac Reilly novel: The Unquiet Grave (2025)
- Latest standalone release: What Happened to Nina? (2024)
Cormac Reilly series (read in this order)
These are police procedurals with cumulative character history. You’ll get the cleanest experience in publication order, with the two short prequels treated as optional “early case files.”
Optional prequels (best read before book 1, or saved for later)
0.5. The Sisters (2020): A prequel that steps back in time, introducing earlier career context and emotional groundwork that later books quietly echo.
0.7. The Roommate (2020): A shorter, sharp case built around proximity and trust, designed to deepen the series’ atmosphere rather than advance the main arc.
Main novels (recommended path)
- The Ruin (2018): A cold case and a new death collide, forcing Reilly to re-open old assumptions and pay the first major price of the series.
- The Scholar (2019): A missing-student case with academic and social power dynamics, where the investigation keeps widening after it “should” have closed.
- The Good Turn (2020): A seemingly simple good deed turns into a chain-reaction thriller, pushing the series toward broader stakes and faster escalation.
- The Unquiet Grave (2025): A serial-style investigation with intense pressure and pace, using Reilly’s accumulated experience as both advantage and vulnerability.
Safest starting point: The Ruin.
If you already read a later book: it’s still worth circling back to The Ruin, it explains why certain relationships and reputations carry so much weight later.
Standalone novels (no shared continuity)
Read these in any order. Pick the one whose premise you want right now.
- The Murder Rule (2022): A mother-daughter legal thriller where a courtroom strategy becomes a personal trap, and “winning the case” starts to look like the wrong goal.
- What Happened to Nina? (2024): A missing-girl story told through two families on opposite sides of privilege, where the search becomes a war over narrative as much as evidence.
Recommended reading paths (choose a lane)
Lane A: “I want the full Reilly experience, spoilers minimized”
- The Ruin → 2) The Scholar → 3) The Good Turn → 4) The Unquiet Grave
Add The Sisters and The Roommate either before The Ruin (for extra context) or after book 2 (as backstory breaks).
Lane B: “One book to test her style”
- Start with What Happened to Nina? if you want family pressure, public scrutiny, and moral collision.
- Start with The Murder Rule if you want legal maneuvering with tight personal stakes.
Lane C: “Mix series + standalones without confusion”
- Read the Reilly books in order.
- Insert standalones anywhere, there’s no overlap to spoil.
What’s next
A new novel, Three Reasons for Revenge, is officially announced for April 2026. It is presented as a separate release from the above continuities.
FAQs
Do the Reilly prequels have to be read first?
No. They’re optional. They add texture and backstory, but the main novels are built to stand on their own.
Is What Happened to Nina? connected to Cormac Reilly?
No. It’s a standalone with its own cast and setting.
Why do I see different publication dates in different places?
Territory and format changes (hardback vs paperback vs audio-first releases) can shift listed dates. The order above follows first-release sequencing for the main reading experience.
Bottom line
If you want one decisive starting point: begin with The Ruin and read Cormac Reilly in publication order. If you want a standalone first, What Happened to Nina? is the cleanest “one-book sample” of McTiernan’s current style and thematic focus.
Frank is the editor of BookSeries.blog, focusing on publication order, chronological timelines, and spoiler-free reading guides for book series and fictional universes.