Dervla McTiernan’s *The Unquiet Grave* is a gripping crime thriller that marks the return of Irish detective Cormac Reilly after a five-year hiatus. When a body is discovered in a Galway bog, initially assumed to be ancient, forensic analysis reveals it belongs to Thaddeus Grey, a school principal who vanished two years ago. As Cormac investigates, more mutilated bodies surface across Ireland, raising the chilling possibility of a serial killer. With masterful storytelling, rich character development, and an atmospheric setting, McTiernan delivers a compelling police procedural that blends mystery, history, and psychological depth.

I love this series and was delighted to see Cormac return. It's a well written, utterly believable and gripping police procedural and the narration was spot on making this a very enjoyable listening experience too

Hats off to Dervla McTiernan: another exciting ride, a gripping and solid thriller. The narrator did a great job adding layers to the story
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Cormac Reilly almost takes a backseat in this (and the last) book. His fellow DI, Peter, has more of a role in this one.

As with the last book, there are a lot of semi related stories and back stories that round out the whole book. Sometimes it can get a little distracting and I have to remind myself who's who and what's going on. It all eventually comes together but I found I really had to concentrate.

The narration by Aoife McMahon was spot on, and I really loved her accent.

Like many of Dervla McTiernan's readers, I was delighted to hear that she was returning to her much-loved Irish-set Cormac Reilly series, after her recent foray into standalone crime fiction set in the USA (The Murder Rule and What Happened to Nina?).

The Unquiet Grave draws together four separate plotlines into an enthralling whole. A German teenager discovers a body part-submerged in a Galway bog, while holidaying in the area with her parents. Garda Peter Fisher is trying to manage a domestic violence situation threatening a family friend, while facing an internal struggle with how to break to his superior officer, D.S. Cormac Reilly, that he's planning to emigrate to Australia. Meanwhile, Reilly is called by his pregnant former partner Emma, whose retired military husband Finn has disappeared while on a business trip to Paris. Finally, crooked cybersecurity expert Carl Rigney is planning to infiltrate the software underpinning the Irish Lottery in order to realise the lavish lifestyle to which he feels entitled.

I felt engaged with each of these storylines and the cast of continuing and new characters created by author Dervla McTiernan. The Unquiet Grave has series hero Cormac Reilly reflecting on his past, in particular how his relationship with Emma went wrong, and contemplating his future with the Gardaí, as he continues to face prejudice from fellow officers over his unmasking of corruption within the force, and is offered a plum position within Internal Affairs. Meanwhile, D.C. Peter Fisher is also at a turning point in his professional and personal life. He must face some big questions about the meaning of justice and his role in dispensing it before the end of the novel. I found the parts of the story following the odious Carl as he devises his plans and chooses a willing accomplice provided some intriguing light relief from the concerns of the central series characters and their investigation.

The Unquiet Grave was a thoroughly enjoyable read, which I accessed via the Bolinda Audio edition, narrated by the excellent Aoife McMahon. My thanks to the author, Dervla McTiernan, publisher Bolinda Audio and NetGalley (UK) for the opportunity to read and review this engaging title.

I absolutely adored this book and devoured it over a couple of days! It has easily been one of my favourite books of the year and I can’t wait to read more from the author in the future

4.5 stars.

When a corpse is found in a bog in Galway, Cormac Reilly assumes the find is historical. But closer examination reveals a more recent story. The dead man is Thaddeus Grey, a local secondary school principal who disappeared two years prior. Cormac struggles to keep his mind on the job as his ex-girlfriend, Emma Sweeney, has reached out to him for help – Emma's new husband has gone missing in Paris. With two more bodies found, press attention is intense. Is there a serial killer at work in Ireland?

I decided to jump in blind with this one, not having read the previous books in the series. Admittedly, I had missed out on some context about Cormac’s previous adventures, and especially the backstory of Garda Peter Fisher. Luckily, my reading buddy caught me up on the important details and I managed to follow the story without any problem afterwards.

This was such a great crime fiction, and I was equally hooked by the case and Cormac and Peter’s personal life struggles. The way the story weaved these separate topics around the main characters was so good - they made the characters felt real, and by the end of the book, I felt deep affinity towards both Cormac and Peter!

One thing I noticed about the writing was how this had a different pacing and vibe to Dervla’s previous book, ‘What Happened to Nina?’. This showcased Dervla’s ability to shape the tone of her books at will and I thought it was smartly done.

The audiobook version of this was narrated really well. It threw me a bit in the beginning as I hadn’t expected a female narrator for a male main character, but once I got used to it I actually preferred it to having a male narrator. The performance was great, and it elevated my reading experience.

It goes without saying that I will go back and read the previous books in the series as well as the next one!

I completely loved this story! Although it's the fourth in a series and I hadn't read the others, it was easy to slip into the story and pick up on all the past that I've missed. The characters were interesting and unique, and the murder mystery itself was even more so. I loved the Irish setting and the authenticity of Ireland and the Irish characters/cultural/speech patterns/etc. I will definitely be reading the others in this series!

I've loved Dervla Mc Tiernan's previous novels (What Happened to Nina? and The Murder Rule) and I was excited to see the return of one of my favorite fictional detectives, Cormac Reilly. The Unquiet Grave is the fourth novel in this bestselling series and while this book works well as a standalone, I'd suggest that you treat yourself to the enjoyment of reading The Rúin, The Scholar and The Good Turn, the first three novels.
A family are working away on their farm, when they come across a body in the bog. Initially expected to be a historical find, locald are shocked to realise the body is that of a local missing man. And Cormac must try to uncover the truth only to uncover a far more complex crime than he has expected. And to add to his woes, his ex is seeking his assistance whenher husband goes missing in Paris. Cormac finds himself pulled in multiple directions, as the body count rises and the media becomes involved.
I love the Cormac Reilly series and how down to earth the character appears. He cares about his work and the cases he works on. Which is evident in The Unquiet Grave as he becomes turn between the two cases and struggles to guide his colleague Peter from potentially making a grave mistake.

At the start, all of the storylines seem completely disparate but McTiernan has definite knack for weaving all of these threads together into an intriguing, compelling mystery that you cannot put down

I also loved the narration by Aoife McMahon, who has narrated the previous books and truly brings each of the characters to life. Adding an extra element to the experience of listening to the story.

A full 5 stars and can we please have another Cormac Reilly ASAP? Please?!?!

The Unquiet Grave
Dervla McTiernan
5*
Great narration by Aoife McMahon lovely Irish voice that was a pleasure to listen to
Great police procedural and even though this was book four in the Cormac Reilly series I had no problems reading it as a stand alone book, I will now however invest in books 1 to 3 as I really enjoyed this authors style and characters .
A young girl finds a body in a bog near the house she is staying in , but this body is not an ancient bog body but that of the local headmaster who has been missing a couple of years , Cormac’s ex girlfriends husband has gone missing and she asks for his help in locating him, and there are promotions and relocations in the pipeline for the central characters. So a book with various storylines , multiple red herrings and a good .
Highly recommended

Another fantastic police procedural featuring my favourite Irish Detective, Cormac Reilly. This is another fast-paced crime fiction from Dervla McTiernan, that is intricately plotted and offers plenty of twists to keep my attention. It will be interesting to read what is next in store for Cormac Reilly.

I was fortunate to listen to the audiobook, and the narration by Aoife McMahon works perfectly for the storyline and characters.

With thanks to Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for the listening review copy, in exchange for an honest review.

I am keen to read more from Irish-born, Australian author Dervla McTiernan, hopefully in the not-too-distant future!

EXCERPT: Leonie turned and walked away. Still the rain fell. Behind her she could hear her father explaining (for what was easily the third time) everything he'd learned about turf cutting over the past twenty-four hours. Leonie wanted to tell him that anyone could google, that reading a Wikipedia entry didn't make him an expert. Instead she kept walking away, even though there was nowhere she could go. Her father had they key to the house, and they were miles from anywhere, with no buses.
She walked deeper into the bog, until her father's voice was muffled and distant. The ground around her changed. There were trenches now, filled with water, either side of where she was walking. The land was thick with reeds, springy and squelchy underfoot. There was a smell too. Earthy. Damp. It wasn't unpleasant.
As Leonie walked, a large bird with a white band around its neck burst, with a squawk of protest, from the reeds a couple of metres in front of her. Leonie took a startled step sideways, and sank up to her knee in cold, dirty water.
Sheiβe.
Water seeped into her left boot and the ground sucked at her leg. She tried and failed to pull her boot out of the mud. It was completely stuck.
Verdammte sheiβe.
Leonie pulled her leg from the boot, then sat on a solidish patch of ground and wrenched her boot from the mud as the backside of her jeans rapidly soaked though. She emptied the water from the boot, and as she tugged it back on, something caught her eye. Just up ahead there was a trench filled with murky water, and something was floating in it. Something odd. Leonie squinted, leaning forward to try to make out the mystery object. She stood up, rubbing her now dirty hands on her jeans, and took a careful half-step forward, then stopped. Her stomach clenched. She tried to tell herself that what she was looking at was an animal, but the lie bounced off, useless against hard reality. What she was seeing was a human back, a curved spine, and a tangles mess that was human hair.

ABOUT 'THE UNQUIET GRAVE': Every grave has a story ...
For years the boglands of Northern Europe have given up bodies of the long-deceased. Bodies that are thousands of years old, uncannily preserved. Bodies with strange injuries that suggest ritual torture and human sacrifice.

When a corpse is found in a bog in Galway, Cormac Reilly assumes the find is historical. But closer examination reveals a more recent story. The dead man is Thaddeus Grey, a local secondary school principal who disappeared two years prior.

There's nothing in Grey's past that would explain why he was murdered, or why his body was mutilated in a ritual manner. At first, progress on the case is frustratingly slow and Cormac struggles to keep his mind on the job. His ex-girlfriend, Emma Sweeney, is in trouble, and she's reached out to him for help - Emma's new husband has gone missing in Paris, and the French police are refusing to open an investigation into his disappearance.

Cormac is sure that he has found Grey's killer, and is within hours of an arrest, when another mutilated body is discovered on the other side of the country. Two days later, a third body is found. Press attention is intense. Is there a serial killer at work in Ireland? Has Cormac been on the wrong trail? And if so, can he find the murderer before they strike again?

MY THOUGHTS: Dervla McTiernan has hit another one out of the park! She has skillfully woven several storylines together into a stunning and thought-provoking climax.

I love the way McTiernan always manages to keep me on the back foot. I have given up trying to solve Cormac's cases and just go along for the extremely challenging and equally enjoyable ride.

The plot in The Unquiet Grave is nothing short of brilliant - complex and brilliant. You'll need to keep your wits about you. There are twists, red herrings, dead ends and some superb detecting. Cormac is torn between two cases, one of which is not official but is close to his heart, and Peter takes matters into his own hands when he believes justice is not being done. I have to admit, I was rather shocked by this. Happy, gratified, but definitely shocked.

Both Cormac and Peter are destined for new paths in their careers, but I can't help wondering just what McTiernan has up her sleeve. In other words, bring on Cormac Reilly #5. And sooner rather than later please.

I was able to combine reading with listening to The Quiet Grave, written by Dervla McTiernan and superbly narrated by Aoife McMahon, who is one of my favorite narrators.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#TheUnquietGrave #NetGalley

MEET THE AUTHOR: Before turning her hand to writing, Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer in her home country of Ireland. Following the global financial crisis, she relocated to Western Australia where she now lives with her husband, two children and too many pets.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Harper Collins Publishers Australia via NetGalley for providing both an e-ARC and an audio ARC of The Unquiet Grave by Dervla McTiernan for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

The Unquiet Grave is the fourth book in the Detective Cormac Reilly series and follows the detective after a body is found in an Irish bog by an unsuspecting family. When Cormac Reilly is certain he has found the killer, another mutilated body is discovered and two days later a third body is found.

I loved the atmospheric writing style with a moody Irish weather that serves as perfect setting for this crime mystery. It was cleverly plotted as there are parallel threads woven alongwith the main mystery. The author does a great job of juggling perspectives of the many characters with ease and with twists and turns that ultimately fit the puzzle pieces together in a satisfactory way.

Aiofe McMahon does a great job of narrating the audiobook perfectly capturing the personalities of all the characters. This is a great series to get into for any mystery or thriller lover especially if you love a good police procedural.

I haven't read a book by Dervla before and this can be totally read as a standalone however I would like to go back and read the earlier books in the series.

Thank you @bolindaaudio for the ALC to listen and review. The book publishes on 4/30.

I’ll read anything by Dervla McTiernan, so was happy to put my hand up for her new book in the police Sergeant Cormac Reilly series, The Unquiet Grave, when it was offered by Netgalley. This is the fourth mystery featuring Reilly, and I’ve always found him an interesting character – unrelenting yet sensitive, logical but also good at reading people. He always seems to be up against it, whether it’s relationship problems, pressure to close a case early or issues with colleagues. Or all three – which is what we have here.

In previous books, Reilly has struggled to fit in, returning to Galway after years in the force in Dublin. A stickler for doing things by the book, he’s been a whistle blower, which is why, in the new book, he’s being headhunted to run a team investigating police malpractice – not a job to earn him popularity. While he’s mulling this over, he and his sidekick, Constable Peter Fisher, are called to a body discovered in a bog. Fitted out to look like a ritual killing, of the kind discovered in ancient burials, the presence of underwear suggests otherwise.

The body turns out to be that of a polarising head teacher at the local school – Thaddeus Grey, who disappeared two years ago. Found on the outskirts of town near his house, Grey expected high standards of the students, and it turns out, was a bit of a bully. Cormac soon narrows his focus to three students who particularly bore the brunt of Grey’s unpleasantness. But when another body is found in similar circumstances, his bosses and the press are jumping on the idea that it’s a serial killer. Cormac soon has a battle on his hands to bring the actual killer or killers to justice.

Meanwhile, Cormac’s ex-girlfriend, Emma, now married and expecting a child, is desperately worried about her husband Finn who has gone missing in Paris. The French police give her the brush off as he’s not a French citizen and she gets the feeling everyone thinks she’s a hysterical female, whose husband suddenly has cold feet about being a family man. Finn was a cyber security expert in the forces until recently, so Cormac pulls a few strings with an old army mate and gets things going with a police investigation. But nobody’s optimistic.

There’s a further plot thread involving a computer tech. wizard planning a fraud against the lottery company he works for. How all these story threads come together is a masterpiece of crime mystery plotting and keeps the story humming along. What makes it particularly interesting are the moral dilemmas faced by Cormac and Peter as they try to find justice for those caught up in crime, as well as problems in their personal lives.

These issues add layers of complexity that give the story a bit more heft. There’s danger too, with some pacy, edge-of-the-seat moments. Add the relentless Galway weather – it’s either freezing or raining or both, and we’ve got the atmospheric settings I’ve come to expect from McTiernan, who takes us to Paris, London, Dublin as well as some boggy rural corners.

All in all I wasn’t disappointed with The Unquiet Grave and it was great to check in with Cormac Reilly again – I do hope there will be more in the series. I really enjoyed the e-audiobook edition of the novel, published by HarperAudio and read by Aoife McMahon, who captured the personalities of all the characters, which were many and varied. With a publishing date of 30 April, The Unquiet Grave is a four-star read from me.

I was not familiar with the Cormac Reilly series before listening to this book and although it was obvious it was part of a series, it worked perfectly well as a stand-alone story. Detective Cormac Reilly is dealing with a body retrieved from a peat bog in Galway. It is not, however, a historic find from the Celtic past, but the body of a missing and not terribly well-loved local head-teacher who disappeared without a trace a few years earlier. Meanwhile, in Dublin, Cormac’s ex-girlfriend, Emma, is dealing with the disappearance of her husband, who failed to return from an assignment in Paris. The plot was compelling, the characters were engaging and believable and the story was beautifully narrated in an easy to listen to Irish accent. All in all, extremely enjoyable to listen to.

Thanks to the author, audio-book publisher and narrator for an opportunity to listen in exchange for a review. I highly recommend this audiobook.

The Unquiet Grave
Dervla McTiernan

Cormac Reilly is back in the fourth instalment. For years the bog lands of Northern Europe have given up bodies of the long deceased, thousands of years old but uncannily preserved. When a corpse is found in a bog in Galway, it’s assumed it’s a historical body reemerged. Closer inspection reveals a more recent story. The dead man is Thaddeus Grey who had disappeared two years prior and nothing in Grey’s past would explain why he was murdered, or why his body was mutilated in a ritual manner.

Concurrently Cormac’s ex-girlfriend Emma Sweeney is reaching out for his help; her new husband has gone missing in Paris.

When Cormac is sure that he has found Grey’s killer, and within hours of an arrest, another mutilated body is discovered. Two days later a third body is found.

With bodies stacking up, and intense media attention, Cormac must find the murderer before they strike again. There’s plenty of moving parts in this book and never a dull moment. I really enjoyed this and the way the answers are revealed was perfectly executed. I really enjoyed Cormac’s no fuss approach to policing and the logical conclusions he draws.

Receiving the audio from Bolinda was brilliant and I loved being able to listen to this exciting tale. The audio was wonderful with the rich Irish accents adding to the characterization and of course helping with proper pronunciation. The narrator nailed this story!

‘Plenty of time to prepare, to write little scripts and practice them but she had no idea what it would actually be like to sit opposite those two men with their keen assessing eyes and lie to their faces. The friendlier of them was the most dangerous, you could fall for his warmth very easily, start thinking of him as someone you could lean on when really he was out to gut you.’

I read this as a standalone even though it is part 4 of a series.i loved the start and was hooked by the discovery of the body in the bog. The narration was superb - a wonderful voice and characterisation.
However I found the subplot confusing and found the story jumped around and I found it hard to follow as an audiobook. Maybe I would have been better reading the book because I can see from other reviews that I am in a minority. I picked this book because I loved What happened to Nina, so will try the first book in the Cormac series.

Having listened to The Scholar and The Good Turn (earlier books in the series) I was excited to have the opportunity to hear the fourth book in the DI Cormac Reilly series. Again narrated by Aoife McMahon; she has truly perfected the tone and pace for this series.

The Unquiet Grave has reinforced my belief that Dervla McTiernan’s DI Cormac Reilly books really is the best crime fiction series around at the moment. Perfect storytelling with strong and compelling characters, and intriguing plots; with fascinating subplots which don’t distract from the main story but rather add to the realism. I love that Cormac is such a believable character with none of the over exaggerated angst of most DI’s in other crime fiction books. The Unquiet Grave can be read as a standalone but honestly why would you! I strongly advise reading every book in this flawless series.

I’m off to read Dervla McTiernan’s stand-alone novels now but sincerely hope there’s more to come in the Cormac Reilly series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for the audio ARC. Once again, Bolinda Audio create perfect clarity and sound on their audiobook recording.

The Unquiet Grave is the 4th book in the series and I have now read them all. Cormac O'Reilly is a murder detective currently based in Galway but promotion is on the cards.

A body is found in a bog and investigations are needed to establish who the victim was and why he has been tortured and left there. When it is found that the body isn't an ancient well preserved 'bog body' Cormac is put in charge of the case.

Meanwhile his ex girlfriend is frantic when her husband doesn't come home from work and reluctantly asks Cormac to help.

An intriguing story with twists and turns and narrated perfectly as always by Aoife McMahon who is one of my favourite narrators.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the DRC, it was much appreciated.

The Unquiet Grave (Cormac Reilly #4) is everything we know and love about the Cormac Reilly series.

Fast paced, full of twists and turns, suspense and intrigue, The Unquiet Grave sees Detective Sargent Cormac Reilly having murders to solve, and there’s personal and professional issues to resolve.

You’ll become immersed in the story with the brilliant narration by Irish narrator Aoife McMahon. She has so far narrated all the books in this series, so love the continuity!

I read an ARC from NetGalley prior to listening to this ALC of the audiobook. Loved both formats!