Cora Harrison books

Cora Harrison is an Irish crime fiction and children's author best known for the Burren Mysteries series, featuring Mara, a Brehon law judge investigating crimes in sixteenth-century County Clare, and the Reverend Mother Mystery series set in 1920s Cork.

Anthologies

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Down These Green Streets 2011 Buy

Burren Mysteries Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
My Lady Judge 2007 Buy
A Secret and Unlawful Killing 2008 N/A
Michaelmas Tribute / A Secret and Unlawful Killing 2008 Buy
The Sting of Justice 2009 Buy
Writ in Stone 2009 Buy
Eye of the Law 2010 Buy
Scales of Retribution 2011 Buy
Deed of Murder 2011 Buy
Laws in Conflict 2012 Buy
Chain of Evidence 2013 Buy
Cross of Vengeance 2013 Buy
Verdict of the Court 2014 Buy
Verdict of the Court: A Mystery Set in Sixteenth-Century Ireland 2014 N/A
Condemned to Death 2015 Buy
A Fatal Inheritance 2016 Buy
An Unjust Judge 2017 Buy

Chimps

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Two Mad Dogs 2003 Buy

Debutantes Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Debutantes 2012 Buy
Lorna 2008 N/A
Debutantes in Love 2013 Buy

Drumshee Chronicles Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Murder Strikes Again 2004 Buy
Treachery at Midnight 2004 Buy
Doomed to Die 2005 Buy
A Life for a Life 2005 Buy
Titanic Voyage from Drumshee 1999 N/A

Drumshee Timeline Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Nuala and Her Secret Wolf 1997 Buy
The Secret of the Seven Crosses 1997 Buy
The Secret of Drumshee Castle 1998 Buy
The Secret of 1798 1998 Buy
Famine Secret at Drumshee 1998 Buy
Titanic Voyage from Drumshee 1999 Buy
Millennium at Drumshee 1999 Buy
The Drumshee Rebels 1999 Buy
The Viking at Drumshee 2001 Buy
Murder at Drumshee 2002 Buy
World War II Rescue at Drumshee 2002 Buy
Dark Days at Drumshee 2003 Buy
Secret Spy from Drumshee 2003 Buy

Gaslight Mysteries Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Season of Darkness 2019 Buy
Winter of Despair 2019 Buy
Summer of Secrets 2021 Buy
Spring of Hope 2022 Buy
Murder in the Mist 2023 Buy

Hugh Mac Egan Mysteries Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
My Lady Judge 2007 N/A
The Cardinal’s Court 2018 Buy
A Secret and Unlawful Killing 2008 N/A
Verdict of the Court: A Mystery Set in Sixteenth-Century Ireland 2014 N/A

Jane Austen Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
I Was Jane Austen’s Best Friend 2010 Buy
Jane Austen Stole My Boyfriend 2011 Buy

London Murder Mysteries Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
My Lady Judge 2007 N/A
The Montgomery Murder 2010 Buy
A Secret and Unlawful Killing 2008 N/A
The Deadly Fire 2010 Buy
Murder on Stage 2010 Buy
Death of a Chimney Sweep 2011 Buy
The Body in the Fog 2012 Buy
Death in the Devil’s Den 2012 Buy
Verdict of the Court: A Mystery Set in Sixteenth-Century Ireland 2014 N/A

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Timeline 2001 Yearbook 2000 Buy

Picture Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Fed-up Vacuum Cleaner 2002 Buy
General Field Mouse 2002 Buy
I Want a Dog 2002 Buy
The Wizard of the Woods 2002 Buy

Reverend Mother Mystery Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
A Shameful Murder 2015 Buy
A Shocking Assassination 2016 Buy
A Shocking Assassination: A Reverend Mother Mystery Set in 1920s’ Ireland 2016 N/A
Beyond Absolution 2017 Buy
A Gruesome Discovery 2018 Buy
Death of a Novice 2018 Buy
Murder at the Queen’s Old Castle 2019 Buy
Death of a Prominent Citizen 2020 Buy
Murder in an Orchard Cemetery 2021 Buy
Murder in the Cathedral 2022 Buy

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Gorgeous 2004 Buy

Willowgrove Village Mysteries

Title Published Buy on Amazon
False Accusations 2018 Buy

Wolfcub Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
That Boy Cadman 2001 Buy
Wolf in the Midnight Forest 2003 Buy
Wolf and the Frozen Mist 2003 Buy

Cora Harrison has written across crime fiction and children’s literature throughout her career, with Irish settings a constant. The Burren Mysteries, begun with My Lady Judge (2007), drew on her knowledge of Brehon law to create a detective whose authority derived from a distinctly Irish institution. Mara, the series protagonist, investigates murders within a tightly defined geographic and social world, and Harrison develops both the landscape of the Burren and the legal framework around her across sixteen novels.

The Reverend Mother Mystery series took a different historical angle: 1920s Cork, a Dominican convent, and an elderly nun who finds herself repeatedly in proximity to violent death. The setting during and after the Irish War of Independence gives the series a political texture absent from the Burren books, with the struggle for Irish statehood running in the background.

Outside her adult mystery series, Harrison wrote extensively for children, including the Drumshee Timeline historical series tracing centuries of Irish history through a single County Clare archaeological site, the Gaslight Mysteries featuring Dickens and Collins as Victorian detectives, and the London Murder Mysteries children’s series set in 1858 Victorian London.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Cora Harrison written?

Cora Harrison has written 79 books across sixteen series.

What was Cora Harrison's first book?

Cora Harrison’s first book is Nuala and Her Secret Wolf, published in 1997.

What makes the Burren Mysteries historically distinctive?

The Burren Mysteries are set in sixteenth-century Ireland under the Brehon laws, the ancient Irish legal system that operated independently of English common law in Gaelic territories until the seventeenth century. Mara, the Brehon judge of the Burren region of County Clare, has the authority to investigate crimes and deliver judgment under this system. Harrison uses the setting to explore a pre-colonization Irish society with its own legal and social structures, giving the series a historical specificity different from most medieval crime fiction set in England or continental Europe.

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