Dublin Murders has quickly worked its way to the top of Netflix’s most-watched charts, less than a week after it debuted.
Hayley Anderson Screen Time TV Reporter
08:49, 23 Mar 2026Updated 08:53, 23 Mar 2026
Dublin Murders ending explained as fans wonder how it differs from novel(Image: BBC)
Dublin Murders has found itself a new legion of fans with many questioning how the BBC drama is different to the books.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Dublin Murders.
Seven years ago, The Dublin Murders made its BBC and RTE debut, bringing author Tana French’s hit murder mystery series to life on the small screen for the first time.
Now, The Dublin Murders has dropped on Netflix with a new fanbase delving into the complicated world for the first time.
Rather than telling two stories over two seasons, the plots of both books, In the Woods and The Likeness, are told in one series so there’s plenty to unpack. But how does it end?
Adam’s childhood trauma
When Detective Rob Ryan (played by Killian Scott) was 12, who was then known as Adam Ryan, two of his friends went missing in the woods and never returned.
Fast forward to the present day and the body of a young girl called Katie is found in the same location where his friends disappeared so Rob tries to solve both cases at the same time.
The Dublin Murders: Adam’s friends Jamie and Peter went missing in the woods when he was 12-years-old. (Image: BBC)
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While Katie’s killer is discovered to be her own sister Rosalind (Leah McNamara) in both the series and the books, infamously, French doesn’t reveal what happened to Rob’s childhood friends.
The mystery isn’t entirely unresolved in the show, however, as Rob meets up with Frank (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) outside the woods in Knocknaree.
Frank hands him a piece of wood and tells him that there’s a picture of the “Child Snatcher” on it, hinting at what happened to his friends.
The Dublin Murders stars actor Killian Scott as Detective Rob Ryan. (Image: BBC)
There’s also a supernatural element to the show that doesn’t exist in the books with Rob seeing a mysterious wolf and the idea of a “dark force” living in the woods.
Lexie’s death
As well as Rob’s investigation, The Dublin Murders revolves around the death of Lexie Mangan, which is the main plot of French’s second book The Likeness.
Her body is found at an abandoned farmhouse but unbelievably, she is the “doppleganger” of Detective Cassie Maddox (Sarah Greene).
The Dublin Murders: Detective Cassie Maddox goes undercover as murder victim Lexie Mangan. (Image: BBC)
To try and figure out who killed her, it’s publicised that Lexie was seriously injured but not killed and Cassie pretends to be the victim, stepping into her life at her house share.
It’s revealed by the end in the show that her housemate Justin (Charlie Kelly) had killed Lexie but in the books, it’s far more complicated.
French’s novel explained that multiple housemates were somehow involved in her death, although it was still Justin who ultimately killed her.
Also, Lexie wasn’t the victim’s real name as this was actually an alias that Cassie had used years ago for another undercover case.
Lexie’s real identity isn’t explained in the book while the TV series focuses more on the supernatural, doppelganger connection.
Dublin Murders is available to watch on Netflix.