Three Reasons for Revenge

Set in Melbourne, Three Reasons for Revenge by Dervla McTiernan is an enthralling crime thriller that begs to be read to the final page with few interruptions. When Detective Sergeant Judith Lee interviews Alexis Turner, a young woman who comes to her with the story of a psychologist  who sexually assaulted her, Judith is not prepared for the drama and danger that is to follow.

The story revolves around three parcels that are delivered to three different people. Initially the parcels appear innocent but before long chaos has ensued for the recipient followed by the deaths of two people and the arrest of a third for murder. Judith realises that ten years ago she interviewed a young woman with a similar story and obviously wants to investigate.

This is very much a character driven novel though different locations in the city of Melbourne and other parts of Victoria feature  throughout the story. There are lots of twists and turns as Judith gradually unravels the convoluted threads being laid by the murderer and events of the past become events of today. Three Reasons for Revenge is definitely a good book to read when you have plenty of time to enjoy reading and can become thoroughly involved in the events of the story as they are revealed.

The Unquiet Grave

When a mutilated body is found in a bog Cormac and his team investigate. At first it was thought that the corpse was an historical burial as similar burials in bogs had been found dating back thousands of years. However investigations reveal that the dead man was the principal of the local school who disappeared two years previously. 

The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan contains multiple stories that combine together before the end of the book. While Cormac is investigating this case he receives a phone call from Emma telling him that her husband has disappeared in Paris. Emma has contacted the local and French police forces who have not been helpful in looking for her husband. Cormac therefore unofficially works on this case as well as trying to solve the murder of the school principal. Then the bodies of two more men are discovered in bogs. Does this mean that there is a serial killer? Cormac also has to decide whether to accept a new position in the police force with a promotion.

Dervla McTiernan has written another fast paced, character driven crime novel that makes the reader want to know what will happen next and keeps them guessing until the end of the book. The Unquiet Grave is number four in the Cormac Reilly series.

What happened to Nina?

If you want to read a novel that you cannot put down then you could try What happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan.

The author has set this story in Vermont USA. Nina and Simon have had a close relationship for many years though it has recently been tested as Simon has been away at college while Nina has stayed home to work with her mother running the family hotel. Back home on holidays Simon convinces Nina to spend time with him at a property owned by his family. They both enjoy climbing and take the opportunity to explore the many trails and crags in the area. But the tensions between the two young people increase. Then Simon returns home without Nina.

The reader gradually learns part of the story through the eyes and actions of Nina and Simon's parents, Nina's sister, Grace, and Matthew who is the detective investigating Nina's disappearance. Nina's mother and her husband have struggled to create successful businesses from scratch but they are not wealthy. Simon, on the other hand, comes from a wealthy and privileged family who will do anything to protect their son from accusations of wrong doing.

Social media plays an important role in the story, initially as Nina's mother uses it to organise a search for her daughter. Simon's parents arrange for associates to use social media to post anonymous posts against members of Nina's family which are quickly taken up by conspiracy theorists.

Tension builds as the world of Nina's family begins to collapse under public scrutiny. The police and Nina's family are sure that they know what happened to Nina. The challenge is how to prove it. An excellent book that I had to keep reading to the end.

Winner of the 2025 Australian Book Industry Award for fiction.

The Murder Rule

The Murder Rule is a stand alone novel by Dervla McTiernan whose first three books were set in Ireland featuring the detective Cormac Reilly.  

The Murder Rule is set in the USA with the main character being Hanna Rokeby who has been accepted as a volunteer on the Innocence Project at the University of Virginia. The project investigates the cases of prisoners who insist that they have been wrongfully convicted and have spent many years in gaol. 

Hanna is primarily interested in the case of Michael Dandridge gaoled for the rape and murder of a young mother. Many years earlier she had read her mother's diary in which she described a relationship she had with Tom Spencer in 1994. She also described how she was raped by Toms' friend Mike Dandridge. Hanna therefore becomes involved at the Innocence Project not to clear Mike but to ensure that he remains in prison.

The chapters in the novel, recounting events fom Hannah's perspective as well as others involved in the investigation in 2019, are initially interspersed with sections of Hanna's mother's diary. As the story evolves it becomes obvious that all is not as it at first appears. Who is telling the truth? What part of the story can really be believed?

Police corruption in a small town and the need sometimes to use unorthodox methods to find the truth are themes in this book about obtaining justice for all. Hannah must also find out who she really is and how she wants to live her life.

The murder rule in the title of the book is the concept existing in parts of America that people should be fully legally responsible for acts they didn't commit, or didn't indend to commit. This concept of felony murder results in many innocent people being sent to gaol.

The Good Turn

This is the third book in Dervla McTiernan's series about Detective Cormac Reilly, an Irish policeman endeavouring to solve crimes despite interference and lack of support from a number of his colleagues.

When the abduction of a young girl is reported Cormac and his small team endeavour to investigate. Additional support was requested and refused leaving a skelton team to locate the missing girl before she is harmed. All does not go to plan resulting in the suspension of Cormac Reilly while Garda Peter Fisher is relocated from Galway to the small town of Roundstone while his future is decided.

While Cormac continues to work on the case of the missing girl from afar he also becomes involved in assisting to uncover corruption in the  police force. Meanwhile Peter investigates a double murder that occurred on a farm near Roundstone and endeavours to resolve his relationship with his father. Cormac also needs to resolve his relationship with Emma who has moved overseas to work.

The Good Turn continues of some of the themes occurring in the two earlier books, The Ruin and The Scholar as well as revealing more of the backstory and lives of Cormac Reilly and Peter Fisher. Another excellent book in this series by Dervla McTiernan.

The Scholar

This second book by Dervla McTiernan about police detective, Cormac Reilly, is set in Galway Ireland.

Emma Sweeney works as a scientist at the laboratories of Darcy Therapeutics, next to the Galway University. One dark evening when she discovers the body of a young woman on the road outside the university she immediately calls  Cormac Reilly. Cormac then takes charge of finding out who murdered the young woman, but the case is complicated as he lives with Emma who is now implicated in the case.

The only identification on the victim is a security card for Darcy Therapeutics found in the pocket of her cardigan. This identifies her as Carline Darcy. However when Cormac visits her apartment a short time later he discovers that there has been an error so the hunt for the victim's identity continues as well as the reasons as to why she has been so brutally murdered.

Carline's grandfather, John Darcy, makes it clear that the protection of the research being undertaken at the laboratories is imperative placing obstacles in the path of the police carrying out the investigation. Cormac cannot believe that Emma is involved with the murder however as the investigation continues evidence mounts that she may indeed be involved. It is therefore imperative that he remains objective and finds evidence that may initially have been overlooked.

The Ruin

Derlva McTiernan was born in Ireland but moved to Australia in 2011. The Ruin is her first novel with a second book in the Cormac Reilly series (The Scholar) published last month.

Detective Cormac Reilly had recently transferred to  the Mill Street Garda Station in Galway from Dublin where he had not received an enthusiastic welcome from his new colleagues.

Assigned a number of cold cases to investigate he becomes involved in reinvestigating one of the first cases he had encountered as a young garda. Twenty years previously he had been called to an isolated house where he discovered two traumatised children. In another room he discovered their mother who had been dead for some time. The young boy was obviously unwell and when he was taken to hospital staff were horrified by the bruising on his body plus fractures that were partially healed. It appeared that the mother, an alcoholic, had committed suicide so the five year old was fostered to a local family who later adopted him. His fifteen year old sister disappeared.

Reilly was told to look at the case again when a young man, related to the earlier case, was found dead in the river. The police announced that the death was suicide. Cormac Reilly had been instructed to concentrate only on the cold case but, as he endeavoured to find out what really happened to the family twenty years previously, he became concerned that the two cases are connected, especially when the young man's sister, Maude, and his partner, Aisling, attempt to convince the police to treat the death as murder.

Apart from the prologue, the story is revealed from the viewpoint of Cormac, Asling and Maude over a month in 2013. As the investigation continues, it becomes obvious that a police cover up is hindering the discovery of what really happened. Themes in this police procedural include child and family abuse plus police corruption. The book is well written with a character driven plot and I look forward to reading the next installment.