Claire McGowan Books

Annie has been trapped in sadness for so long that she has forgotten how to be happy. Enter Polly, a vibrant and joyful force who believes that life is too short to waste. With just one hundred days to help Annie rediscover happiness, Polly embarks on a mission that challenges Annie’s beliefs about herself and the world around her. Initially skeptical, Annie finds herself drawn into Polly's colorful perspective and begins to see glimpses of joy in her life. However, as their friendship deepens, it becomes clear that Polly may need Annie's support more than she anticipated. This bittersweet journey explores themes of love, friendship, and the importance of making every day count. Readers will find themselves reflecting on the impact of small moments and the courage it takes to let others in. With praise from bestselling authors for its humor, wisdom, and emotional depth, this story promises to resonate long after the last page is turned. If you enjoyed works like Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine or The Keeper of Lost Things, this book will surely captivate you with its blend of joy and poignancy.

The second novel in the highly acclaimed Paula Maguire series and the gripping follow up to The Lost by Claire McGowan, who Lee Child proclaims as 'a knockout new talent'. The Dead Ground sees forensic psychologist Paula Maguire working in the missing persons unit in Northern Ireland, where there are many deadly secrets to dig up...

In this tense thriller from the bestselling author of What You Did and The Other Wife, a woman finds a dead body. Will she make the same mistake as last time?When Rachel stumbles upon a body in the woods, she knows what she has to do: run. Get away. Do not be found at the scene. Last time, she didn’t know, and she ended up accused of murder. But when this victim is identified as her boyfriend’s estranged wife, Rachel realises she’s already the prime suspect.With mounting evidence against her, Rachel’s only hope is to keep the truth about herself well hidden. Because twenty years ago she was someone else—Casey, a young nanny trying to make it as an actress in Los Angeles. When the family she worked for were brutally murdered, all the evidence pointed to her and she went to prison. Back then, she narrowly escaped the death penalty and managed to free herself on appeal. Now she’s fighting to save the life she’s spent years piecing back together.But with her behaviour raising suspicion and the police closing in, Rachel can’t help wondering: Was her discovery in the woods really just an awful coincidence, or is someone framing her for murder? Someone who knows who she is, and wants revenge…

From the bestselling author of What You Did comes a true-crime investigation that cast a dark shadow over the Ireland of her childhood.Ireland in the 1990s seemed a safe place for women. With the news dominated by the Troubles, it was easy to ignore non-political murders and sexual violence, to trust that you weren’t going to be dragged into the shadows and killed. But beneath the surface, a far darker reality had taken hold.In this candid investigation into the society and circumstances that allowed eight young women to vanish without a trace—no conclusion or conviction, no resolution for their loved ones—bestselling crime novelist Claire McGowan delivers a righteous polemic against the culture of secrecy, victim-blaming and shame that left these women’s bodies unfound, their fates unknown, their assailants unpunished.McGowan reveals an Ireland not of leprechauns and craic but of outdated social and sexual mores, where women and their bodies were of secondary importance to perceived propriety and misguided politics—a place of well-buttoned lips and stony silence, inadequate police and paramilitary threat.Was an unknown serial killer at large or was there something even more insidious at work? In this insightful, sensitively drawn account, McGowan exposes a system that failed these eight women—and continues to fail women to this day.

The new heart-warming novel by bestselling women's fiction author Eva Woods, in the tradition of Sliding Doors and In Five Years, this novel explores what could have been while also reminding us to have a little faith in what's about to happen.

Kindle bestseller Eva Woods brings us an uplifting, heartfelt and funny story, sure to appeal to fans of Lucy Diamond, Lucy Dillon and Rowan Coleman

Forensic psychologist Paula Maguire returns in The Silent Dead, the third in Claire McGowan's hard-hitting crime series. Peter James calls it 'astonishing, powerful and immensely satisfying'. When a group of suspected bombers start turning up dead, Paula is faced with a challenging case with blurred moral boundaries between victim and perpetrator.

Not everyone who's missing is lost Hard-hitting and unputdownable, THE LOST follows Forensic psychologist Maguire back to her hometown in the search for two missing girls. This exhilarating introduction to the Paula Maguire series by Claire McGowan is sure to grip fans of Elly Griffiths and LJ Ross. 'Claire McGowan is a knockout new talent' - Lee Child When two teenage girls go missing along the Irish border, forensic psychologist Paula Maguire has to return to the hometown she left years before. Swirling with rumour and secrets, the town is gripped by fear of a serial killer. But the truth could be even darker. Not everyone who's lost wants to be found Surrounded by people and places she tried to forget, Paula digs into the cases as the truth twists further away. What's the link with two other disappearances from 1985? And why does everything lead back to the town's dark past- including the reasons her own mother went missing years before? Nothing is what it seems As the shocking truth is revealed, Paula learns that sometimes, it's better not to find what you've lost... What readers are saying about The Lost: 'Well written and keeps you guessing. The best book I have read this year' 'Fantastic read. Had me gripped from start to finish - I just couldn't put it down. Highly recommended' 'Compelling and thrilling. Claire McGowan has a clever ease of storytelling that draws you in and leaves you wanting more'

Forensic psychologist Paula Maguire returns in BLOOD TIDE, the fifth novel in Claire McGowan's series. Paula is sent to investigate the disappearance of a couple from a remote island off the Irish coast. For fans of Sharon Bolton's LITTLE BLACK LIES and Elly Griffiths' THE WOMAN IN BLUE.

Everyone has one. That list. The things you were supposed to do before you turn thirty.