The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 9 books · 1994 to 2015 · Set in Boston

Dennis Lehane

Crime and mysteryPrivate eyeHistorical crimeNoir and hardboiled

Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro work out of a Boston church belfry, taking cases that drag them into the city’s violence, backed by their dangerous friend Bubba Rogowski. Lehane’s Coughlin trilogy follows a Boston family through Prohibition and the war.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. Standalones, including Mystic River and Shutter Island, are left out.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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Dennis Lehane books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Kenzie and Gennaro

6 books · Set in BostonPrivate eyeNoir and hardboiled
  1. 1A Drink Before the War1994With Patrick Kenzie and Angela GennaroBuy on Amazon
  2. 2Darkness, Take My Hand1996With Patrick Kenzie and Angela GennaroBuy on Amazon
  3. 3Sacred1997With Patrick Kenzie and Angela GennaroBuy on Amazon
  4. 4Gone, Baby, Gone1998With Patrick Kenzie and Angela GennaroBuy on Amazon
  5. 5Prayers for Rain1999With Patrick KenzieBuy on Amazon
  6. 6Moonlight Mile2010With Patrick Kenzie and Angela GennaroBuy on Amazon

Coughlin

3 books · Set in BostonHistorical crimeNoir and hardboiled
  1. 1The Given Day2008With Danny CoughlinBuy on Amazon
  2. 2Live by Night2012With Joe CoughlinBuy on Amazon
  3. 3World Gone By2015With Joe CoughlinBuy on Amazon

Characters

7 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Kenzie and Gennaro

The Coughlins