Paula McGuire Books in Order
Explore the Paula McGuire crime series by Claire McGowan, with books in order, quick summaries, series background and guidance on the best place to start.
Last updated: December 22, 2025
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Publication Order
7 books
The Killing House
by Claire McGowan
2018
When renovations at a remote farm uncover the remains of an IRA man missing since the 1990s and an unidentified girl, forensic psychologist Paula Maguire is called home. As another teenager disappears, the case pulls her perilously close to the truth about her own mother’s fate.
Blood Tide
by Claire McGowan
2017
Paula Maguire heads to isolated Bone Island to investigate a young couple who vanished during a violent storm. Trapped among hostile locals and rising seas, she must untangle buried island secrets and haunting childhood memories before the tide—and a killer—close in.
A Savage Hunger
by Claire McGowan
2016
When privileged student Alice Morgan disappears from a rural shrine along with the bones of a saint, Paula Maguire faces a high-profile case loaded with political pressure. Following blood on the altar and echoes of an old murder, she discovers just how savage vengeance can be.
The Silent Dead
by Claire McGowan
2015
Suspected bombers from the notorious Mayday Five are turning up dead, killed in the same ways their victims once died. Tasked with the case, Paula Maguire must decide where justice ends and revenge begins as the line between killer and victim blurs.
Controlled Explosions
by Claire McGowan
2015
In this prequel novella, a teenage Paula Maguire navigates school bullies, her mother’s unexplained disappearance and her policeman father’s dangerous work during a tense marching season. When a bomber targets Orange parades, Paula herself becomes a pawn in the escalating violence.
The Dead Ground
by Claire McGowan
2014
A newborn is snatched from a border-town hospital and a woman is found ritually murdered in a stone circle. As more babies and a pregnant doctor go missing, Paula Maguire races snow and secrecy to catch a killer whose obsessions cut close to her own life.
The Lost
by Claire McGowan
2013
Returning to her troubled border hometown to join a new missing-persons unit, forensic psychologist Paula Maguire investigates two vanished teenage girls from very different families. Old disappearances, a secretive religious mission and her own mother’s fate tangle into one dark, dangerous case.
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