{"id":363690,"date":"2026-03-25T03:53:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/363690\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T03:53:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T03:53:23","slug":"dublin-murders-ending-explained-as-fans-wonder-how-it-differs-from-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/363690\/","title":{"rendered":"Dublin Murders ending explained as fans wonder how it differs from novel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dublin Murders has quickly worked its way to the top of Netflix\u2019s most-watched charts, less than a week after it debuted.<\/p>\n

Hayley Anderson Screen Time TV Reporter<\/p>\n

08:49, 23 Mar 2026Updated 08:53, 23 Mar 2026<\/p>\n

\"Dublin<\/p>\n

Dublin Murders ending explained as fans wonder how it differs from novel(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Dublin Murders has found itself a new legion of fans with many questioning how the BBC<\/a> drama is different to the books.<\/p>\n

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Dublin Murders.<\/p>\n

Seven years ago, The Dublin Murders made its BBC<\/a> and RTE debut, bringing author Tana French\u2019s hit murder mystery<\/a> series to life on the small screen for the first time.<\/p>\n

Now, The Dublin Murders has dropped on Netflix<\/a> with a new fanbase delving into the complicated world for the first time.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s plenty to unpack. But how does it end?<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s childhood trauma<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Dublin Murders: Adam’s friends Jamie and Peter went missing in the woods when he was 12-years-old. (Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Chilling’ espionage thriller with British icon drops gripping new trailer<\/a>READ MORE: BBC ‘axing two more Strictly Come Dancing pros’ for 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

While Katie\u2019s killer is discovered to be her own sister Rosalind (Leah McNamara) in both the series and the books, infamously, French doesn\u2019t reveal what happened to Rob\u2019s childhood friends.<\/p>\n

The mystery isn\u2019t entirely unresolved in the show, however, as Rob meets up with Frank (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) outside the woods in Knocknaree.<\/p>\n

Frank hands him a piece of wood and tells him that there\u2019s a picture of the \u201cChild Snatcher\u201d on it, hinting at what happened to his friends.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Dublin Murders stars actor Killian Scott as Detective Rob Ryan. (Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a supernatural element to the show that doesn\u2019t exist in the books with Rob seeing a mysterious wolf and the idea of a \u201cdark force\u201d living in the woods.<\/p>\n

Lexie\u2019s death<\/p>\n

As well as Rob\u2019s investigation, The Dublin Murders revolves around the death of Lexie Mangan, which is the main plot of French\u2019s second book The Likeness.<\/p>\n

Her body is found at an abandoned farmhouse but unbelievably, she is the \u201cdoppleganger\u201d of Detective Cassie Maddox (Sarah Greene).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Dublin Murders: Detective Cassie Maddox goes undercover as murder victim Lexie Mangan. (Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

To try and figure out who killed her, it\u2019s publicised that Lexie was seriously injured but not killed and Cassie pretends to be the victim, stepping into her life at her house share.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s revealed by the end in the show that her housemate Justin (Charlie Kelly) had killed Lexie but in the books, it\u2019s far more complicated.<\/p>\n

French\u2019s novel explained that multiple housemates were somehow involved in her death, although it was still Justin who ultimately killed her.<\/p>\n

Also, Lexie wasn\u2019t the victim\u2019s real name as this was actually an alias that Cassie had used years ago for another undercover case.<\/p>\n

Lexie\u2019s real identity isn\u2019t explained in the book while the TV series focuses more on the supernatural, doppelganger connection.<\/p>\n

Dublin Murders is available to watch on Netflix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dublin Murders has quickly worked its way to the top of Netflix\u2019s most-watched charts, less than a week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1578,93,61,60,1868],"class_list":["post-363690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bbc","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-netflix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}