Book Series Guide

Author guide

Paul Murray Books in Order

Paul Murray is an Irish novelist born in Dublin in 1975. He studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin and creative writing at the University of East Anglia. His novels often combine comedy, social observation, family drama, and underlying emotional darkness. He is the author of An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Skippy Dies, The Mark and the Void, and The Bee Sting.

literary fictioncomic fictiontragicomedy

Catalog record updated .

Paul Murray's Newest Book

Cover of The Bee Sting

The Bee Sting

novel · First published 2023

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart. The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under—but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for twelve-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away. If you wanted to change this story, how far back would you have to go? To the infamous bee sting that ruined Imelda’s wedding day? To the car crash one year before Cass was born? All the way back to Dickie at ten years old, standing in the summer garden with his father, learning how to be a real man? The Bee Sting, Paul Murray’s exuberantly entertaining new novel, is a tour de force: a portrait of postcrash Ireland, a tragicomic family saga, and a dazzling story about the struggle to be good at the end of the world.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

Cover of An Evening of Long Goodbyes

An Evening of Long Goodbyes

Murray's debut novel and earliest standalone work.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (4)
  1. An Evening of Long Goodbyes

    novel · 2003

    The brilliant first novel by the author of Skippy Dies Acclaimed as one of the funniest and most assured debuts of recent years, An Evening of Long Goodbyes is the story of Dubliner Charles Hythloday and the heroic squandering of the…

  2. Skippy Dies

    novel · 2010

    Why does Skippy, a student at Dublin's venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop? Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, who is determined to open a portal into a parallel…

  3. The Mark and the Void

    novel · 2015

    This is a comic masterpiece about love, art, greed and the banking crisis, from the author of Skippy Dies. Workaholic French banker Claude is so busy making money from Ireland's economic crisis he has no time for romance. Then he meets…

  4. The Bee Sting

    novel · 2023

    From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart. The Barnes…

Frequently asked questions about Paul Murray

Who is Paul Murray?

Paul Murray is an Irish novelist born in Dublin in 1975. He studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin and completed a master’s degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia.

Sources: dublincity.ie (opens in a new tab)irishbookawards.ie (opens in a new tab)

What is Paul Murray known for as a writer?

Murray is known for tragicomic fiction that combines humor with serious examinations of adolescence, family, institutions, and contemporary Irish society. His writing has received major international recognition, including Booker Prize nominations.

Sources: theparisreview.org (opens in a new tab)thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)

What influenced Paul Murray’s writing?

Murray has cited his experience at Blackrock College as an influence on his school fiction, while naming writers and artists including Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, Flann O’Brien, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Daniel Clowes, and Charles Burns as important influences.

Sources: theparisreview.org (opens in a new tab)dublincity.ie (opens in a new tab)

What awards has Paul Murray won?

Murray’s novel The Mark and the Void won the Everyman Wodehouse Prize in 2016. The Bee Sting won the 2023 Eason Novel of the Year and the overall An Post Irish Book of the Year.

Sources: irishbookawards.ie (opens in a new tab)irishbookawards.ie (opens in a new tab)

How has Paul Murray contributed to contemporary Irish literature?

Murray has helped broaden contemporary Irish fiction through expansive, emotionally serious novels that use comedy to address social change, economic pressures, family conflict, and moral uncertainty. His work has been recognized by repeated Booker Prize listings and major Irish literary awards.

Sources: thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)irishbookawards.ie (opens in a new tab)