
Since her 2007 debut novel, In the Woods, Tana French has established herself as a leading name in contemporary mystery thrillers. In the Woods kicked off her popular and award-winning series, Dublin Murder Squad, intense psychological thrillers that intimately connect their detectives to the murders they are investigating. With Dublin Murders from Starz and BBC One, the compelling books have turned into a dark, complex, and captivating new series for TV viewers.
A different detective from the Dublin police force is central to each of French’s books so that while characters and cases from earlier books may have peripheral connection or mention, each novel stands on its own. Sometimes the cops are undercover agents, cold case investigators, or part of the titular Murder Squad. The key ingredient? The central character of a given mystery is stumbling into a case that has deep personal and emotional ties to their pasts.
Dublin Murders comes to Starz on November 10. The cunningly crafted show takes the first two books of the series, In the Woods and The Likeness, and weaves them together over the eight-episode first season. The series starts in the summer of 2006, where detectives Rob Reilly and Cassie Maddox are sent to investigate the discovery of a murdered child at an archeological dig site—in the same woods where two children went missing more than 20 years ago. As they investigate the murder, they discover a community trapped in the old Ireland, and Rob is forced to confront dark childhood memories.
The series stars a strong cast of mostly Irish actors, including Killian Scott (Ripper Street) as Detective Rob Reilly, Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful) as Detective Cassie Maddox, and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Avengers: Endgame, Infinity War) as Detective Frank Mackey. Writer and creator Sarah Phelps, who developed the series, is no stranger to crafting a great thriller, having written BBC mysteries and crime shows The ABC Murders, The Witness for the Prosecution, Ordeal of Innocence, And Then There Were None, as well as adapting The Casual Vacancy.
It will be interesting to see how the two mysteries are bridged together. With the plot of The Likeness taking Cassie Maddox into her next case and playing the role of a young woman found murdered, for whom she is a doppelgänger, and uncover what led to her tragic fate.
How to watch Dublin Murders
Dublin Murders begins airing on Starz on November 10, and available to watch with a Starz subscription plan. Starz runs $8.99 a month, after a 7-day free trial, and can be streamed online, or via the STARZ app on most streaming devices, including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Android devices. See our guide to watching Starz online for more details on the service.
It’s also easy to add the Starz channel to existing memberships with such services as Amazon Prime or Hulu for an additional $8.99 monthly, after the same 7-day free trial period.