Sister Fidelma books in order

Reading order

The Sister Fidelma series is set in 7th-century Ireland, a period when the Celtic Church was still distinct from Rome and Irish society operated under its own sophisticated legal code known as the Brehon laws. Sister Fidelma of Cashel, the younger sister of the King of Muman (Munster), is both a member of the religious community at Kildare and a qualified dalaigh of the Brehon courts. Her investigations take her from remote monasteries in the Irish countryside to the halls of power in Cashel, Tara, and across the sea to Rome, Gaul, and Saxon England.

Author Peter Tremayne draws on his scholarly knowledge of early medieval Ireland to build mysteries that are rooted in the real tensions of the era. Religious disputes between the Celtic and Roman churches, political rivalries between the five kingdoms of Ireland, and the workings of a legal system that was remarkably progressive for its time all figure into the plots. Fidelma is often accompanied by Brother Eadulf, a Saxon monk whose outsider perspective on Irish customs provides a natural way for the reader to learn about this unfamiliar world.

The series started with Absolution by Murder in 1994 and has continued for over 30 years, with Grave of the Lawgiver published in 2025. Each book works as a standalone mystery, though the relationship between Fidelma and Eadulf develops across the series, and returning readers will notice recurring political threads. New readers can start with Absolution by Murder, which introduces both the main characters and the setting at the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD.