Molly Murphy

Molly Murphy arrives in New York from Ireland in 1901 with nothing but determination and nerve, and becomes one of the city's first female private investigators. Rhys Bowen's 21-book series is a rich, vivid portrait of immigrant New York at the turn of the twentieth century.

By Rhys Bowen · 21 books · 2001–present

By The Editorial Team · Last reviewed April 2026

What is the Molly Murphy series about?

Molly Murphy arrives in New York in 1901, having fled Ireland under circumstances that leave her little choice. She is quick, stubborn, infuriatingly brave, and constitutionally incapable of minding her own business — which turns out to be an excellent disposition for a private investigator. Rhys Bowen’s 21-book series follows her as she establishes herself as one of New York’s first female private investigators — not because the city welcomes this, but because Molly insists on it, and insisting is something she is exceptionally good at.

The setting is the immigrant Lower East Side, the drawing rooms of Fifth Avenue, the political clubs and labour halls of a city at the beginning of the twentieth century. Bowen uses it all. The historical research is substantial, and the texture of immigrant New York — the Irish, Jewish, Italian, and Chinese communities rubbing up against each other and against the WASP establishment — gives the series a richness that straightforward period mysteries rarely achieve. A book set in Chinatown (Bless the Bride) feels genuinely different from one set in a Newport mansion (Hush Now, Don’t You Cry) or the San Francisco earthquake aftermath (Time of Fog and Fire). Bowen moves Molly around with confidence and does her research.

What elevates Molly above the typical historical amateur sleuth is that her circumstances matter. She is not independently wealthy. She needs to earn money. The cases she takes are shaped by financial reality and by the limits of what a woman in 1901 can actually do. This gives the series an edge of genuine tension that cosier contemporaries sometimes lack.

From book 18, Wild Irish Rose (2022), Bowen’s daughter Clare Broyles joins as co-author. The transition is smooth — the voice and quality remain consistent, and readers who have followed Molly across two decades will not notice a stumble.

Should I read Molly Murphy in order?

Yes. This is the most continuity-dependent of Bowen’s three series. Molly’s personal life — her romance with police captain Daniel Sullivan, her friendships, her growing family — develops in ways that matter. Starting mid-series means missing the accumulation of context that makes later books land properly. The relationship with Daniel in particular builds slowly enough that early-series readers and late-series readers are having quite different experiences. Start with Murphy’s Law and go from there.

Who will enjoy the Molly Murphy series?

Readers who want historical crime fiction with genuine period depth and a protagonist who is funny, warm, and occasionally infuriating in the best way. Fans of Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher will find Molly a useful contrast — less glamorous, more grounded, working with fewer resources and more obstacles. Where Phryne glides through 1920s Melbourne on wealth and nerve, Molly scraps her way through turn-of-the-century New York on nerve alone. The immigrant New York setting will appeal to anyone interested in early twentieth century American social history. The series is also a natural step for readers of Her Royal Spyness who want something with more historical weight and less comic airiness — same author, opposite register.

Publication Order

1
Murphy's Law (2001)
Molly flees Ireland under desperate circumstances and arrives at Ellis Island, immediately entangled in a murder that will define the life she builds in New York.
2
Death of Riley (2002)
Molly takes over the cases of a private investigator who dies suddenly, stepping into his work and his dangerous enemies without much preparation.
3
For the Love of Mike (2003)
Molly goes undercover in a garment factory on the Lower East Side to investigate the exploitation of immigrant workers, and finds conditions far worse than expected.
4
In Like Flynn (2005)
A senator hires Molly to investigate strange happenings at his Hudson Valley estate, where séances and family secrets are tangled up with something more sinister.
5
Oh Danny Boy (2006)
A young man on death row maintains his innocence, and Molly — working against time and a hostile establishment — investigates the original crime to find the truth.
6
In Dublin's Fair City (2007)
Molly returns to Ireland on a case and finds herself navigating the tense political atmosphere of Dublin at a moment of rising nationalist sentiment.
7
Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (2008)
A young woman is found unconscious in Central Park with no memory of who she is, and Molly's investigation leads into the world of New York theatre.
8
In a Gilded Cage (2009)
An outbreak of typhoid among New York's wealthy families suggests something more deliberate than a natural epidemic, and Molly follows the evidence into the city's grandest houses.
9
The Last Illusion (2010)
Molly investigates a case connected to the world of stage magic, crossing paths with the great Houdini himself in 1904 New York.
10
Bless the Bride (2011)
A Chinese bride goes missing before her wedding, and Molly investigates in Chinatown — a community she must earn the trust of before she can find the truth.
11
Hush Now, Don't You Cry (2012)
A wealthy industrialist is found dead at his Newport mansion over a holiday weekend, and Molly must identify the killer from among the assembled family and guests.
12
The Family Way (2013)
Molly — now pregnant — takes on what should be a simple case and finds herself drawn into a conspiracy that puts both her and her unborn child in danger.
13
City of Darkness and Light (2014)
Molly travels to Paris, following a friend who has vanished into the bohemian world of Montmartre, and finds art, danger, and a mystery rooted in the city's shadows.
14
The Edge of Dreams (2015)
A series of strange deaths on the New York subway seems impossible — each victim alone in a locked carriage — and Molly's investigation leads somewhere deeply unsettling.
15
Away in a Manger (2015)
A Christmas novella in which Molly and her family are caught up in a case involving an abandoned baby and a crime that cuts through the holiday warmth.
16
Time of Fog and Fire (2016)
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake provides the backdrop as Molly travels west and finds the chaos of disaster covering up something deliberately criminal.
17
The Ghost of Christmas Past (2017)
A second Christmas mystery in which Molly investigates a haunting at a grand house, discovering that the ghost story conceals a very human crime.
18
Wild Irish Rose (2022)
The first book co-authored with Clare Broyles, in which Molly investigates a case touching on Irish immigrant communities and the violent labour conflicts of early twentieth-century New York.
19
All That is Hidden (2023)
Molly is drawn into a case involving a missing heiress and a world of wealth and deception that stretches from Fifth Avenue to the city's immigrant quarters.
20
In Sunshine or in Shadow (2024)
A case takes Molly into the emerging world of moving pictures in New York, where the glamour of early cinema conceals exploitation and murder.
21
Silent as the Grave (2025)
The most recent Molly Murphy mystery, continuing the series into its third decade with Bowen and Broyles at the helm.

Related Series

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