Tuesday, March 17, 2026

St Patrick's Day Mysteries // St. Patrick's Day Crime Fiction

St. Patrick's Day figures in so many mysteries. Here's my updated St. Patrick's Day Crime Fiction list. And, since Irish aka Emerald Noir is very popular right now, you can always add more titles to your TBR pile from the many Irish mystery crime writers. Although they may not take place specifically on St. Patrick's Day.

Mystery Readers Journal has had two issues dedicated to Irish Mysteries. Irish Mysteries: 36:4 (2020) and  Irish Mysteries 24:2 (2008)  Both are still available as PDF download.

As always, I welcome comments and additions to this list. 

ST. PATRICK'S DAY CRIME FICTION

Susan Wittig Albert: Love Lies Bleeding
Jennifer S. Alderson: Death by Leprechaun 
Amy Alessio: Struck by Shillelagh
Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, & Marcia Talley (editors): Homicidal Holidays: Fourteen Tales of Murder and Merriment
Mary Kay Andrews (aka Kathy Hogan Trocheck): Irish Eyes
Marlene Bierworth: Paddy's Mission
S. Furlong-Bollinger: Paddy Whacked
Linda Carroll-Brado: St Patrick's Shenanigans
Harry Brandt (Richard Price): The Whites
MW Burdette: The St. Patrick Day Murders

Lynn Cahoon: Corned Beef and Casualties
Isis Crawford: A Catered St. Patrick's Day
P. Creeden: Murder on Saint Patrick's Day
Kathi Daley: Shamrock Shenanigans
Maddie Day: Four Leaf Cleaver
Nelson DeMille: Cathedral
Tom Dots Doherty: ShamrockSnake
J.C. Eaton: Dressed Up 4 Murder
Peggy Ehrhart: Irish Knit Murder
Janet Evanovich: Plum Lucky
Sharon Fiffer: Lucky Stuff 
Bernadette Franklin: Shammed
S. Furlong-Bollinger: Paddy Whacked
Deborah Garner: A Flair for Shamrocks
Danielle Garrett: Lucky Witch
Andrew Gonzalez: St. Patrick's Day
Ani Gonzalez: Luck of the Witchy
Andrew Greeley: Irish Gold

Jane Haddam: A Great Day for the Deadly
Lyn Hamilton: The Celtic Riddle
Darci Hannah: Murder at the Blarney Bash

Jonathan Harrington: A Great Day for Dying

Lee Harris: The St. Patrick's Day Murder
Jennifer L. Hart: Sleuthing for the Weekend
Michelle Ann Holstein: End of the Rainbow

Dorothy Howell: Duffel Bags and Drownings 
Carolyn Q. Hunter: Shamrock Pie Murder
Melanie Jackson: The Sham
Madison Johns: Lucky Strike
Diane Kelly: Love, Luck, and the Little Green Men 
Linda Kozar: St. Patrick's Secret
Amanda Lee: The Long Stitch Good Night; Four-Leaf Clover
Wendi Lee: The Good Daughter
Dan Mahoney: Once in, Never Out
Marion Markham: The St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Mystery (children's)
Ralph M. McInerny: Lack of the Irish
Leslie Meier: St. Patrick's Day Murder; Irish Parade Murder

Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, & Barbara Ross: Irish Coffee Murder (novellas)
Sharon Michaels: St. Patrick's Day Puzzle
Carlene O'Connor: Murder in an Irish Bookshop, Irish Milkshake Murder
Sister Carol Anne O’Marie: Death Takes Up A Collection
Mark Parker: Lucky You
Jack Pachuta: Murder Most Green
Amy M. Read: St. Patrick's Fray
Christopher Ryan: Go Brath
Madelyn Scott: Suspicions and Shamrocks
Janet Elaine Smith: In St. Patrick's Custody
Kathleen Suzette: Death and a Peppermint Patty
JJ Toner: St. Patrick's Day Special
Kathy Hogan Trochek (aka Mary Kay Andrews): Irish Eyes
Debbie ViguiƩ: Lie Down in Green Pastures

Noreen Wald: Death Never Takes a Holiday; The Luck of the Ghostwriter
J.A. Whiting and Nell McCarthy: Death in Dublin
Traci Wilton: Mrs. Morris and the Pot of Gold

Irish Soda Bread Murder by Carlene O'Connor, Peggy Ehrhart, Liz Ireland (3 books in one)*

Check out Dublin Noir, a collection of short stories edited by Ken Bruen, published by Akashic Books in the US and Brandon in Ireland and the UK.

Read Val McDermid's take on the Popularity of Irish Crime Fiction.

Some Irish crime writers you might want to read: 

Tana French, Erin Hart, Benjamin Black, Conor Brady, Declan Hughes, Jane Casey, Brian McGilloway, Alan Glynn, John Brady, Stuart Neville, Adrian McKinty, John Banville (Benjamin Black), Ken Bruen, Jesse Louisa Rickard, Peter Tremayne, Gene Kerrigan, Stuart Neville, Liz Nugent, Eoin Colfer, John Connolly, Sinead Crowley, Olivia Kiernan, Brian McGilloway, Jo Spain, Jane Casey, Catherine Ryan Howard, Jess Kidd, Claire McGowan, Arlene Hunt, Michelle Duane, Zara Keane, Declan Hughes, Jess Kidd, Gemma O'Connor, Lisa McInerney, 

Who are your favorite Irish authors?

***

Crime Films set around St. Patrick's Day:

Between the Canals (2010), Irish crime film written and directed by Mark O'Connor
The Boondock Saints (1999) American crime film written and directed by Troy Duffy
State of Grace (1990) Neo-Noir Crime Film directed by Phil Joanou
The Fugitive (1993) American Crime Film directed by Andrew Davis

True Crime: 


May the road rise up to meet you, and the wind be always at your back!

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