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Dervla McTiernan

Goodreads Author

Website

https://dervlamctiernan.com/newsletter/

Genre

Crime, Mystery, Ebooks

Member Since

August 2017

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/dervlamctiernan

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Number one internationally bestselling author Dervla McTiernan is the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of six novels, including the much-loved Cormac Reilly series and two number 1 bestselling standalone thrillers, The Murder Rule and What Happened to Nina?, both New York Times Best Thrillers of the Year and both currently in development for screen adaptation. Dervla is also the author of four novellas, and her audio novella, The Sisters, was a four-week number one bestseller in the United States. Before turning her hand to writing, Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer in her home country of Ireland. Following the global financial crisis, she relocated to Western Australia where she now lives with her husband, two chil ...more

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I'm getting ready to begin The Scholar for a book club. Is it necessary to read The Ruin first or can they be read out of order?

Dervla McTiernan Hi Sarah, thanks for reading! You can definitely read out of order. I wrote the books knowing that readers will pick them up and read out of order som…moreHi Sarah, thanks for reading! You can definitely read out of order. I wrote the books knowing that readers will pick them up and read out of order sometimes, and I really wanted the books to be satisfying stories on their own. So yes. You can go ahead and read The Scholar without having read The Ruin. Of course I think they are best read together but not necessary : ) (less)

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What is your writing process like and how long do you usually take to finish writing a book? Thank you.

Dervla McTiernan Hello and thanks for your question : )

I usually start thinking about the next book while I'm still editing the previous book. This means I've often b…moreHello and thanks for your question : )

I usually start thinking about the next book while I'm still editing the previous book. This means I've often been thinking about my new book for at least a few months, on and off, before I put pen to paper. When I'm thinking I'm really looking for a character who inspires very strong feelings in me, positive or negative. That character is the first little seed from which I will grow the book.

I usually have a scene in my mind that gives me an insight into the character. For example, with The Ruin, the scene I had was a scene with Maude and Jack. In the scene they are children, Maude is 15, Jack only 5, and they are sitting on the stairs in that crumbling Georgian house, holding hands. It's getting dark outside, it's freezing in the house, and they are afraid. That's all I had at the start of the book. I had to write the rest to find out how they got to that place, and what happened to them next! But by then I cared desperately about both of them, and I felt I knew them so well, and that gave me what I needed to carry me through the sometimes difficult process of writing the novel.

I could bore you to tears about the detailed process I use to write - the very short version is that once I have the key character around whom I'm going to build the book, I do a long character study for her and at least four or five secondary characters, sometimes more, and then a sketch outline (maybe a paragraph or two ) for eight or nine scenes I think would be fun to write. Then a rough synopsis, then I write twenty thousand words or so. At that stage I usually re-read and reconsider the synopsis, write a more detailed synopsis/outline, and then re-write the first twenty thousand words (by then I know the characters and story a lot better so it's worth going back and fixing it up). Then continue on to finish my first draft. I do work to outlines but I am always willing to bin them if they lose that organic feel.

It takes me about four months to write a rough first draft, and then I will spend another year, off and on, editing the book to get it into shape.

I hope that helps!(less)

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Combine Editions
Dervla McTiernan’s books

Average rating: 3.92 · 214,040 ratings · 20,305 reviews · 14 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Ruin (Cormac Reilly, #1) 3.95 avg rating — 52,177 ratings — published 2018 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What Happened to Nina? 4.04 avg rating — 43,411 ratings — published 2024 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Scholar (Cormac Reilly, #2) 4.05 avg rating — 29,992 ratings — published 2019 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Murder Rule 3.68 avg rating — 29,774 ratings — published 2022 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Good Turn (Cormac Reilly, #3) 4.22 avg rating — 19,582 ratings — published 2020 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sisters (Cormac Reilly, #.5) 3.61 avg rating — 14,004 ratings — published 2019 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Roommate (Cormac Reilly, #0.7) by Dervla McTiernan (Goodreads Author), Aoife McMahon (Narrator) 3.69 avg rating — 9,041 ratings — published 2020 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Unquiet Grave (Cormac Reilly #4) 4.11 avg rating — 7,531 ratings — published 2025 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wrong One by Dervla McTiernan (Goodreads Author), Neil Hellegers (Goodreads Author) (Narrator), Michael Crouch (Narrator) 3.25 avg rating — 5,994 ratings — published 2022 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fireground by Dervla McTiernan (Goodreads Author), Ben Chapple (Narrator), Harriet Gordon-Anderson (Narrator) 3.67 avg rating — 2,031 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Dervla McTiernan…

Series by Dervla McTiernan

DI Cormac Reilly (4 books)
by

Dervla McTiernan (Goodreads Author)

3.97 avg rating — 132,736 ratings

It's no secret that around here we love a good twisty mystery, a confounding whodunit, and a heart-racing thriller. So, we asked eight of...

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26 total votes

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