The Synopsis:
Book 1: Into The Woods
One night a young twelve year-old named Adam wanders into the woods with his two closest friends after a day out playing, but only Adam returns alone. Despite a search from the entire local community, they are never to be found again as they discover Adam by himself shivering from the cold. There are signs of a struggle nearby and it appears Adam has been in some sort of fight, but he’s too distraught to relate any of the events that took place, them having been wiped from his memory.
Moving forwards twenty years, Adam now goes by his middle name Rob, as he finds himself a detective on the infamous Dublin Murder Squad. Rob and his partner, Cassie Maddox, have been given the case of a murdered twelve year-old girl, Katy Devlin, which they have to solve. The difference with this case though, is the similarities it bares to Rob’s own traumatic past. Cassie knows this, as the two of them are extremely close yet not romantically involved, although many others believe they are.
At first it appears that Katy’s death is linked to the motorway protests that her father participated in, along with the possibility that there might have been a case of abuse happening within her family. It also soon transpires that there could be a physical link to Rob’s previous event in the form of a hair-clip found at the crime scene. The clip belonged to one of his friends.
It is then that Rob must try to remember what happened that night when he was lost in the woods. He undertakes a series of measures in which he tries to jog his memory, but it quickly starts to take its toll as he begins to suffer from nightmares and flashbacks. Meanwhile his relationship with Cassie begins to feel the strain as the two of them find difficulty maintaining their bond. Can they reform their broken bonds? Will a romance happen? What of the murder and Rob’s own traumatic past? Will they be able to solve the case whilst Rob manages to retain his sanity in the face of everything?
Book 2: The Likeness
Focusing this time on the protagonist Cassie Maddox and her case, this novel takes place six months after the previous one in the fallout of the events and a new investigation. Whilst she hopes to break away she’s pulled back in when the Detective Sam O’ Neill calls her back to investigate a murdered woman. The thing is, this case happens to be different due the victims appearance being similar to that of Cassie's. That’s not the only thing though, as her ID tag found goes by the same name that Cassie used to use when she was operating undercover.
This provides Cassie with the perfect chance to go undercover in her place once again with the story that the killing never took place as the stab wounds weren’t found to be fatal. Cassie maybe reluctant to this idea initially, but it’s her boss Frank Mackey who eagerly pushes it all forwards. The appeal of going back undercover once more proves to be too strong though, as Cassie can potentially take up the role of the murdered graduate student. Over time this proves to be fraught with danger, as the role she undertakes is shrouded in secrets and lies, as she immerses herself into the world of one Lexie.
The house where the students reside has a feud that’s been going on for generations and, to add to that, Cassie is getting an emotional attachment to the case that might prove to be problematic. Frank notices this and starts to become concerned for her well-being as he realizes she could potentially jeopardize the entire case. Will they find out her true identity? Can she solve the case whilst keeping out of harm’s way? Just what is the truth behind this mysterious turn of events underway?
Book 3: Faithful Place
The course of Frank Mackey's life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Frank never heard from her again. Twenty years on, Frank is still in Dublin, working as an undercover cop. He's cut all ties with his dysfunctional family. Until his sister calls to say that Rosie's suitcase has been found. Frank embarks on a journey into his past that demands he reevaluate everything he believes to be true.
Book 4: Broken Harbour
In a ghostly estate outside Dublin - half-built, half-inhabited, half-abandoned - two children and their father are dead. The mother is on her way to intensive care. Scorcher Kennedy is given the case because he is the Murder Squad's star detective. At first he and his rookie partner, Richie, think this is a simple one: Pat Spain was a casualty of the recession, so he killed his children, tried to kill his wife Jenny, and finished off with himself. But there are too many inexplicable details and the evidence is pointing in two directions at once.
Scorcher's personal life is tugging for his attention. Seeing the case on the news has sent his sister Dina off the rails again, and she's resurrecting something that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control: what happened to their family, one summer at Broken Harbour, back when they were children. The neat compartments of his life are breaking down, and the sudden tangle of work and family is putting both at risk . .
Book 5: The Secret Place
Detective Stephen Moran hasn't seen Holly Mackey since she was a nine-year-old witness to the events of Faithful Place. Now she's sixteen and she's shown up outside his squad room, with a photograph and a story.
Even in her exclusive boarding school, in the graceful golden world that Stephen has always longed for, bad things happen and people have secrets. The previous year, Christopher Harper, from the neighbouring boys' school, was found murdered on the grounds. And today, in the Secret Place - the school noticeboard where girls can pin up their secrets anonymously - Holly found the card.
Solving this case could take Stephen onto the Murder squad. But to get it solved, he will have to work with Detective Antoinette Conway - tough, prickly, an outsider, everything Stephen doesn't want in a partner. And he will have to find a way into the strange, charged, mysterious world that Holly and her three closest friends inhabit and disentangle the truth from their knot of secrets, even as he starts to suspect that the truth might be something he doesn't want to hear.
Book 6: The Trespasser
Being on the Murder Squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she’s there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she’s getting close to the breaking point.
Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers’ quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed-to-a-shine, and dead in her catalog-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner. There’s nothing unusual about her—except that Antoinette’s seen her somewhere before.
And that her death won’t stay in its neat by-numbers box. Other detectives are trying to push Antoinette and Steve into arresting Aislinn’s boyfriend, fast. There’s a shadowy figure at the end of Antoinetteʼs road. Aislinnʼs friend is hinting that she knew Aislinn was in danger. And everything they find out about Aislinn takes her further from the glossy, passive doll she seemed to be.
Antoinette knows the harassment has turned her paranoid, but she can’t tell just how far gone she is. Is this case another step in the campaign to force her off the squad, or are there darker currents flowing beneath its polished surface?
The Dublin Murder Squad Series - The Adapation
The eight-part television series entitled Dublin Murders is being adapted by American premium cable channel Starz, Irish broadcaster RTE, and UK broadcaster BBC One.
Killian Scott, who shot to fame for his portrayal in RTE’s drama Love/Hate, is playing the lead Rob Reilly. Sarah Greene, who starred in Rosie and Penny Dreadful, also stars as detective Cassie Maddox.
“This series, set during the height of the Celtic Tiger financial boom of the millennium, will focus on two murder investigations led by ambitious and charismatic Detectives Rob Reilly and Cassie Maddox.”
“The victims - a young talented ballerina who is found dead on an ancient stone altar; and a vivacious free-spirited woman, who is found stabbed in a roofless famine cottage - are seemingly unrelated, but as we will discover, are actually knitted together by powerful shared themes - the macabre ‘red in tooth and claw’ elements of both stories, and their heart-thumping psychological thriller qualities.”
Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht said: "This series is brilliantly adapted by Sarah Phelps, who in blending the first two novels has constructed a complex and enigmatic world for this suspense-filled drama.”
read more here @ The New Yorker
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