Reading order · 8 books · 2003 to 2025 · Set in Edinburgh
Karen Pirie Books in Order
Karen Pirie leads a cold case unit in Scotland, reopening old crimes with dogged determination.
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Series facts
- Books
- 8
- Published
- 2003 to 2025
- First book
- The Distant Echo
- Latest
- Silent Bones (2025)
- Setting
- Set in Edinburgh
The reading order
Every Karen Pirie book in publication order. Choose a title for its cast and summary.
8 books · Set in Edinburgh
- 1The Distant Echo2003In 1978, four students in St Andrews find a young woman dying in the snow.Buy on Amazon
- 2A Darker Domain2008With Karen PirieIn 2007, a woman asks Karen Pirie to find her father, who vanished during the miners’ strike of 1984, while Karen also reopens a famous kidnapping case.Buy on Amazon
- 3The Skeleton Road2014With Karen PirieA skeleton is found on the roof of an old building in Edinburgh, and Karen Pirie follows the trail to the wars in the Balkans.Buy on Amazon
- 4Out of Bounds2016With Karen PirieA teenage joyrider dies in a crash, and his DNA links him to a murder twenty years ago.Buy on Amazon
- 5Broken Ground2018With Karen PirieA vintage motorbike buried in a Highland peat bog is dug up, along with a body.Buy on Amazon
- 6Still Life2020With Karen PirieFishermen in the Firth of Forth pull up a body, and it is a man wanted for murder years ago.Buy on Amazon
- 7Past Lying2023With Karen PirieDuring the lockdown of 2020, Karen Pirie reads the unpublished manuscript of a dead crime writer, and it seems to describe the disappearance of a real student.Buy on Amazon
- 8Silent Bones2025With Karen PirieBuy on Amazon
Do you need to read them in order?
Read in order, starting with The Distant Echo, where she first appears.
Who appears in which book
The series’ main characters, book by book. Lead means the book is told around them; minor covers cameos.
| Book | Karen Pirie | Jason Murray | Phil Parhatka | Hamish Mackenzie | Daisy Mortimer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 The Distant Echo | ·Minor | ||||
| 2 A Darker Domain | LLead | MMajor | MMajor | ||
| 3 The Skeleton Road | LLead | MMajor | MMajor | ||
| 4 Out of Bounds | LLead | MMajor | ·Minor | ·Minor | |
| 5 Broken Ground | LLead | MMajor | ·Minor | ||
| 6 Still Life | LLead | MMajor | ·Minor | MMajor | |
| 7 Past Lying | LLead | MMajor | MMajor | ||
| 8 Silent Bones | LLead | MMajor | MMajor |
Characters in the Karen Pirie books
5 characters from Val McDermid’s chart, with the number of Karen Pirie books each appears in.
| Character | Books | First in this series |
|---|---|---|
| Karen PirieDetective leading Scotland’s cold case unit | 8 | The Distant Echo 2003 |
| Jason MurrayDetective constable on Karen’s team | 7 | A Darker Domain 2008 |
| Phil ParhatkaDetective and Karen’s partner | 3 | A Darker Domain 2008 |
| Hamish MackenzieKaren’s partner after Phil | 3 | Out of Bounds 2016 |
| Daisy MortimerDetective sergeant on Karen’s team | 3 | Still Life 2020 |