Henrie O
mystery
Series · crime fiction
Kate Brannigan
The Kate Brannigan series by Val McDermid has 6 books and is best read in publication order, starting with Dead Beat (1992).
- Books
- 6 books
- First published
- 1992
- Status
- completed
- Last checked
Start here: Dead Beat (1992) — then read straight through in publication order.
Reading order
The order the books were released — the default way to read the series.
- Book 1:
Dead Beat
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Dead Beat - Book 2:
Kick Back
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Kick Back - Book 3:
Crack Down
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Crack Down - Book 4:
Clean Break
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Clean Break - Book 5:
Blue Genes
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Blue Genes - Book 6:
Star Struck
Alternative text for cover: Cover of Star Struck
About the Kate Brannigan series
Kate Brannigan is a private investigator working the unglamorous end of 1990s Manchester -- corporate fraud, insurance scams, missing persons, and the occasional case that spirals into something much more dangerous. She's a hardboiled heroine cut with very British, very Mancunian wit: motorbike-riding, self-employed, allergic to being condescended to, and paired for most of the series with an on-again boyfriend, Richard Barclay, whose own dodgy schemes keep dragging her into trouble. McDermid built the series as a deliberate answer to the male-dominated American hardboiled tradition -- Kate does the same kind of legwork and takes the same kind of risks as a Spenser or a Marlowe, but the voice, the setting, and the social texture are unmistakably Manchester.
Across six books published between 1992 and 1998, the series also doubles as a time capsule of the early-90s British PI trade just before mobile phones and the internet changed the job completely -- Kate's cases turn on landlines, paper trails, and legwork in a way later PI fiction rarely bothers with. McDermid wound the series down after Star Struck to focus on Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, which had launched in the middle of Kate's run and went on to become her best-known work.
Frequently asked questions
How many Kate Brannigan books are there?
Six, published between 1992 and 1998: Dead Beat, Kick Back, Crack Down, Clean Break, Blue Genes, and Star Struck.
Is the Kate Brannigan series connected to Val McDermid's other series?
No -- it shares no characters with Lindsay Gordon, Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, Karen Pirie, or Allie Burns.
Did the series end on a cliffhanger?
No -- Star Struck (1998) closes out Kate's arc; McDermid simply moved on to other series afterward rather than ending the story mid-thread.
If you like the Kate Brannigan series
Reading order last verified .