Mayo Murders Books in Order
Part ofDavid Pearson Books in OrderSee the Mayo Murders series by David Pearson in order, with all books listed, short plot summaries, series background and guidance on where to start.
Last updated: January 13, 2026
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Publication Order
3 books
The Red Shoes Mystery
by David Pearson
2025
Before dawn on Bertra Beach, a burned-out car still smoulders in the sea air, a young woman's body trapped inside. Her red shoes are the only clear identifier, and O'Shea and Maguire must follow scant forensic traces and a fragment of phone footage to uncover who wanted her erased.
The Bertra Beach Mystery
by David Pearson
2025
A charred car on the Mayo coast, a young woman dead inside and little left to examine suggest a killer who planned ahead. Working the case on their home ground, O'Shea and Maguire probe local loyalties, old resentments and coastal nightlife to reveal what happened on Bertra Beach.
The Farmyard Mystery / The Farmhouse Mystery
by David Pearson
2024
On a quiet Mayo farm, Pat Nevin and his son Conor are shot dead in their own yard, shattering a close family. DI Martin O'Shea and DS Deirdre Maguire trace clues from phone messages to hidden grudges, racing to solve the case before grief pushes another son toward revenge.
Series background & context
The Mayo Murders series takes Pearson's brand of Irish crime fiction north-west to County Mayo, particularly the farmland and coastline around Westport and Bertra Beach. Here the lead investigators are DI Martin O'Shea and DS Deirdre Maguire, a partnership built on O'Shea's doggedness and Maguire's sharp eye for detail.
The first book, The Farmyard Mystery / The Farmhouse Mystery, opens with a brutal double killing in a supposedly peaceful farmyard. Pat Nevin and his son Conor are murdered on their own land, leaving their family in shock and one surviving son dangerously focused on revenge. O'Shea and Maguire work through neighbours, family feuds and digital traces like messaging apps to piece together what really happened.
In The Red Shoes Mystery a car is found burned out on the coast near Bertra Beach, with a young woman's body inside. The only recognisable detail is her pair of bright red shoes. The case forces the detectives to untangle who she was, why someone wanted her erased so completely and how a quiet stretch of shoreline ended up as a crime scene.
The Bertra Beach Mystery returns to the same stretch of Mayo coast as O'Shea and Maguire face another killing that seems designed to destroy evidence. A charred vehicle, a lone victim and a community that would rather look away raise the question of what the locals stand to lose if the truth comes out.
Across the series Pearson leans into the contrast between a tourist-friendly landscape and harsh crimes rooted in loyalty, money and resentment. The investigations focus on small details, from farm routines to who was awake at dawn on a stormy morning, and on how grief and fear ripple through a tight-knit rural area.
If you like modern police stories that feel grounded in real countryside lives rather than glossy city settings, the Mayo Murders are built to scratch that itch.
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