The Good Turn

The unputdownable new novel from the bestselling author of The Ruin and The Scholar.

Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl's silence - three unconnected events that will prove to be linked by one small town.

While Detective Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, Garda Peter Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone.

For some, like Anna and her young daughter Tilly, Roundstone is a refuge from trauma. But even this village on the edge of the sea isn't far enough to escape from the shadows of evil men.

Staff Review by Ben Hunter

With 2018’s The Ruin, Dervla McTiernan minted herself an international bestseller and a reputation as a world-class creator of intelligent police procedurals. In her third Cormac Reilly thriller, The Good Turn, she’s better than ever. McTiernan is completely fluent in the distrust, the layers of corruption and the isolation that pervades the world of law enforcement. And then there’s the inimitable and intoxicating Irishness of her work.

The Good Turn hardens Reilly into an (even more) outstanding investigator and it plays with some fascinating themes, including the intergenerational pressures of law enforcement families, small town gossip and control, austerity, the under-resourcing of emergency services and the difficulty of prosecuting institutional corruption. I’m obsessed. I love it. You will too.

About the Author

Dervla McTiernan's debut novel, The Ruin, was a critically acclaimed international bestseller published around the world. The Ruin won the Ned Kelly Award for Best First Fiction, the Davitt Award for Best Adult Fiction and the Barry Award for Best Original Paperback, and was shortlisted for numerous other awards. It was on the Amazon US Best Book of the Year list in 2018 and screen rights were snapped up by Hopscotch Features.

Dervla's second book, The Scholar, debuted into the Nielsen Bookscan Top 5 on release in 2019, and her third, The Good Turn, went straight to no.1, confirming her place as one of Australia's best crime writers.

Born in County Cork, Ireland, to a family of seven, Dervla practised as a corporate lawyer for twelve years. Following the global financial crisis, she moved with her family to Western Australia, where she now lives with her husband and two children. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla now writes full time.