Review: Dublin Murders

Sarah Greene in Dublin Murders

Dublin Murders is an Irish mystery series on STARZ. The 8 episode drama is based on two novels by Tana French, who worked with series creator Sarah Phelps in writing the episodes.

Dublin Murders is more a character study of two damaged police officers with mental health issues than a crime solving mystery. Although it is a crime solving mystery. The private issues of two Garda detectives come to the surface because of two cases.

Sarah Greene plays both Detective Cassie Maddox and a mysterious woman called Lexie who looks exactly like her. As a child, Cassie had an imaginary friend named Lexie who looked just like her. Finding the murdered doppleganger brings up trauma and secrets from her past.

When the very real woman called Lexie is killed, Cassie’s former boss Frank (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) wants Cassie to return to undercover work to find the killer. Cassie got out of undercover work after her last job for Frank, and went into murder investigation. She does not want to do more undercover work.

Killian Scott in Dublin Murders

Since moving to the murder squad, Cassie worked with Detective Rob Reilly (Killian Scott). They get a case involving a 14 year old girl found dead in the woods. Her body was displayed on an ancient altar in the path of a big road construction project.

Rob has his own secrets from the past about other deaths in the same area. It’s a story he was involved in as a child. Now, he’s changed his name and nobody knows he has a personal interest in what happened in those woods.

Jonathan Forbes, Sarah Greene, and Killian Scott in Dublin Murders

The two Tana French novels combined to create the series were In the Woods and The Likeness. (Affiliate Links) I thought the series would have been better if the two stories were told separately rather than mixed together. However, the premise of the investigation was that the long ago case and the current case were related. Tana French has written several other Dublin Murder Squad books, so take note mystery lovers.

The crimes and the search for the killers was fascinating and full of surprises. A good bit of time was spent on Cassie and Rob trying to work through the demons from their pasts that these cases brought up. The character studies of Cassie and Rob were very well done.

Each case came with its own set of characters, and there were numerous cops. It was a big cast.

Poster for Dublin Murders

Check out the trailer. It gives the impression that this series is Rob’s story, but it is equally Cassie’s. Sigh. Patriarchy, preview style.

Have you seen Dublin Murders already? What were your thoughts about it?

2 thoughts on “Review: Dublin Murders”

  1. I have not seen the yet. However, after your interesting review, it is now on my “watch this” list.

    Thank you for your reviews. They really help identify some potential entertainment. We need you now that we are quarantined more than ever!

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