Sinéad Crowley Books In Order

Publication Order of DS Claire Boyle Books

Sinead Crowley
Sinead Crowley was born in 1974 and is an Irish novelist and journalist. She is Arts and Media Correspondent for RTE News and is a lecturer in journalism at Dublin City University.

Sinead went to Dublin City University and University College Dublin and got a bachelor’s degree in media studies and communication. She also got a master’s in women’s studies.

She started her journalism career for the Northside People, where she was also the film reviewer. Sinead later worked at radio stations like Clare FM, Radio Kerry, and Raidio Na Life. In 1997, she joined Raidio Teilifis Eireann as a reporter in Irish language programmes and joined the RTE Newsroom as a journalist in August of 1999.

“Can Anybody Help Me?”, “Are You Watching Me?”, and “One Bad Turn”, which are all novels in her “DS Claire Boyle” series, were shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards.

“Can Anybody Help Me?” is the first novel in the “DS Claire Boyle” series and was released in the year 2014. It was really crazy, she hadn’t ever met the woman, had no clue what her real name was but she thought of her like a friend. Or, at least, the closest thing that she had to a friend in Dublin.

Yvonne, who is struggling with a new baby, turns to an online forum for moms, called netmammy, for some support. Pulled into a world of new friends, she spends increasing amounts of time on the web and begins volunteering more information about herself. One of her friends goes offline, which makes her think that something is wrong, but just dismisses any of her fears. Because after all, does she even really know this woman?

However when a young woman’s body with striking similarities to Yvonne’s missing friend is found, Yvonne realizes that the entire group is in horrifying danger. Can she possibly persuade Sergeant Claire Boyle, herself close to heading on maternity leave, to take any of her fears seriously?

Sinead delivers a riveting, chilling, and brilliantly written book that is sure to keep you up reading well into the night. There are believable characters combined with escalating tension that gets both emotional and disturbing. Fans of the book found this legitimately scary and cleverly original, with a well handled plot that keeps you guessing the whole way through. The ‘up to date’ tech of a Netmums forum is cleverly done and was cleverly worked out.

“Are You Watching Me?” is the second novel in the “DS Claire Boyle” series and was released in the year 2015. Liz Cafferky is currently on the up. Rescued from her dark past by the owner of the drop in center for older men that feel lonely or are down on their luck, she quickly finds herself being the charity’s face, and the unwilling darling of the Dublin media.

Amid her claustrophobic fame, she hardly notices a letter she gets from a new fan. However then one of the center’s clients gets murdered brutally, and Elizabeth gets another, much more sinister letter.

Liz, who runs from her own ghosts, is much too afraid to go to the police about it. And without any leads, there is very little that Sergeant Claire Boyle can do to keep her safe.

Readers found this to be compulsively readable, and is an absorbing variation on the domestic noir genre. Each of the characters and their back stories are interesting, well written, and believable. Sinead delivers a crackingly paced thriller novel which features a wholly believable female detective. Readers are taken on a journey filled with turns and twists, as there is a ton of mystery and red herrings.

“One Bad Turn” is the third novel in the “DS Claire Boyle” series and was released in the year 2017. How could your friend possibly become your worst enemy? Held hostage at gunpoint by her childhood friend is not Heather Gilmore’s idea of a good day at the office. It just gets worse when she hears about Leah, her nineteen year old daughter, getting kidnapped.

Sergeant Claire Boyle had not expected to get all caught up in a hostage situation during her doctor’s appointment. It becomes apparent that this kidnapping is linked to the hostage taker, a woman called Eileen Delaney, in some way, she’s put in charge of locating the missing girl.

What could have happened between Heather and Eileen that would make Eileen so bound and determined to ruin her longtime friend? Claire has to dredge up old secrets from their pasts in order to find out, and soon, because Leah’s still missing, and the time to save her is running out.

“The Belladonna Maze” is the first stand alone novel and was released in the year 2022. Dual timelines entwine in a heart stopper of a story about forbidden passion and old secrets.

An old house can hold a lot of secrets. Hollowpark in the west of Ireland definitely does. Right at the core of the gardens is this intricate maze, and was named for Belladonna, a lethal poison. If you know your way through it, it truly is magical, a playground and a hiding place unlike any other. If you do not, it is a place of sinister riddles and fear. A place where a young girl vanished and never was seen again.

Grace comes to Hollowpark in order to nanny for Skye FitzMahon. Before long the mysterious past of Hollowpark has successfully seduced her. Who’s the woman that she sometimes sees in one of the upstairs windows? Or that apparition that keeps turning up unexpectedly, pleading ‘find me’. And how could she possibly fight her building attraction to Skye’s dad?

Readers found this to be spine tingly magnificent, and is just as twisty-turny as the maze is. It is wholly engrossing and largely atmospheric it pulls you in and holds you prisoner until the very end. This one’s deftly plotted and beautifully written, and it is so compelling that the pages just about turn themselves. Fans of the novel lost their selves in this novel, which is a sweeping saga which embraces romance, mystery, and history.