Ava McCarthy Books In Order

Publication Order of Harry Martinez Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Ava McCarthy is a critically acclaimed Irish author known for writing thriller, mystery, and suspense stories. She has written a few international bestselling novels and is particularly famous for writing the Henrietta Martinez series. McCarthy began her writing career in the year 2009 with the book called The Insider. The Sainsbury Book Club immediately selected it as its Book of the Month. A Hollywood movie based on the book as also been made by Polaris Pictures. In the subsequent years, McCarthy wrote and published two sequel novels to her debut book. In 2016, she came up with a standalone book called Dead Secret, which is a psychological suspense thriller. The thriller novels penned by McCarthy have been translated into as many as thirteen languages throughout the world. Several prominent critics have compared McCarthy’s books with the likes of Lee Child, John Grisham, and Harlen Coben.

McCarthy is credited to have created the central character named Henrietta Martinez. She is depicted as a strong, super-smart, and attractive woman and is often referred to as ‘Harry’. Author McCarthy was born and brought up in Dublin. She completed her graduation from University College Dublin with a bachelor’s degree in the subject of Physics followed by a Master’s degree with a specialization in Nuclear Medicine. Before trying her luck in the field of writing novels, McCarthy worked as a Computer Analyst and Medical Physicist for the London Stock Exchange. McCarthy has spent more than 20 years of her life in the software industry. Currently, she resides in Dublin with her loving husband, their two children, and a couple of pets. McCarthy spends most of her daytime writing novels and manages some spare time to spend with her family members. She has obtained a contract from Harper for the publication of her books. McCarthy is represented at MBA Literary and Scripts Agency by an agent named Laura Longrigg.

The people close to the author never thought that she would end up becoming a writer, but McCarthy believes that there were always signs of her choosing this path. At the age of seven, she used to write stories on an ancient typewriter and read them out at her school. While growing up, there was a shift in her focus from studying physics to working for the LSE. It was not before she reached her forties that McCarthy undertook writing at a serious level. She was very much impressed by Joanna Trollope’s Girl from the South and wished she had written something like that. Soon after she finished reading that book, McCarthy sat down to write her first novel. However, it took her close to three years to finish the writing part and another year to come across a literary agent that agreed to get it published. McCarthy considers herself lucky that she didn’t have to struggle as much as other aspiring writers.

Within a couple of weeks of finding an agent, she was offered a two-book deal by HarperCollins. McCarthy says that her stories mostly start from small ideas and random notions that tend to make her curious. Being a physicist, she has the habit of finding out how things work. She believes that writers end up creating the best stories when they know their story world in great detail and understand the people that live in it. McCarthy started writing her first book when she gained a curiosity about hacking. She loved the entire idea of intruding someone’s system, covering the tracks, and collecting sensitive data. Her next novel was the outcome of her curiosity for diamonds. She became attracted to the world of underground diamond mines, international diamantaires, and expert diamond cutters. Likewise, she developed a curiosity about con artists, casinos, and scams to write her third book.

The biggest challenge faced by author McCarthy in her career of professional writing is taking out time from her busy family life to write stuff. She always has a hard time finding the space and time from her part-time job and her young family. McCarthy claims that she wrote her debut novel in her car while she waited for her kids outside their school gates. Her other books were also written while in transit from home to work and vice versa. McCarthy always waited for everyone to sleep or wake up early at 5 am and work on her novels. She is grateful that her hard work has paid off well and has helped her become a successful author.

The Henrietta Martinez series written by author Ava McCarthy is comprised of three books released between 2009 and 2011. Each of the books of this series features the central character in the role of Henrietta Martinez. The other essential characters mentioned by McCarthy include Sal Martinez, Riva Mills, Franco Chavez, and a few others. This series is filled with techno-thieves, inside traders, and hackers. The debut book of this thrilling series is entitled ‘The Insider’. It was released in 2009 by the Harper publication. Initially, it is depicted that Henrietta Martinez’s father, Sal, was an investment banker, whom she lost when she was very young. Before getting separated from Henrietta, Sal had trained her in calculating the odds and taking risks. When Sal indulged in a bad gamble with an anonymous trader named ‘The Prophet’ and got imprisoned, Harry was approached by The Prophet claiming that she owes him money. He warns her to give 12 million euros or lose her life.

With little time in her hand, Henrietta starts tracking down the crooked partners of her father. She tries to keep herself at a distance from the police, journalist, and hired assassins. Henrietta uses the skills taught by her father to deal with her enemies. With the use of her honed skills, she gives her enemies a hard time while chasing her from the LSE to the Bahamas-based casinos. Henrietta knows that the stakes are high and her enemies are very dangerous. The second installment of the series is known as ‘The Courier’. HarperCollins publication released it in 2010. This book opens by depicting that Henrietta Martinez is approached by the suspicious wife of the owner of a safe to use her hacking skills and crack it open. After helping her client get away with diamonds worth millions, Henrietta becomes witness to a murder. An assassin tries to kill her to remove all loose ends. When Henrietta approaches the police, they are unconvinced that her life is in danger. In order to unravel the mystery, Henrietta decides to take it upon herself to track down the client and discover the truth about the illegal diamond trade. The search leads her to South Africa, where the base of the smuggling operations is located.