Casey Barrett is a new crime fiction author who is best known for being a former competitive swimming Olympic athlete in Canada. Reading the Casey Barrett books in order right now is extremely easy, as the author has three novels published in his Duck Darley mystery series.
Here are all the books in order for the Casey Barrett Duck Darley series and any new books the new author will write in the future.
New Casey Barrett Books
The Tower of Songs (Duck Darley #3), 2019
Duck Darley Books in Reading Order
- Under Water, 2017
- Against Nature, 2018
- The Tower of Songs, 2019
Casey Barrett Biography
Casey Barrett was born in 1975 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. So far, his biggest achievement in life is swimming, as that is what most people know Casey for. He learned swimming at the age of four on Dorval Island, outside of Montreal.
The first time he swam in a serious competition was with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. Next, he swam at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida.
During college, Casey became a nine-time All-American at the University of Southern California and Southern Methodist University, where he studied print journalism.
With butterfly being his favorite swimming type, in 1996 he became a member of the Canadian Olympic swim team in Atlanta.
In 2002, Casey Barret and his partner, Lars Merseburg, founded Imagine Swimming, Inc, which is the biggest swimming school in New York City. They teach each week thousands of students who want to learn the art and craft of swimming. The students are all between ages of 6 and 12.
In addition, he won three Emmy Awards for his NBC’s coverage of the Olympics Games.
In an interview with The Daily, author Casey Barrett mentioned that for him, writing and swimming are on the same wavelengths. “The discipline and lifestyle of swimming and writing is almost exactly the same … So much so that I’m baffled there aren’t more former swimmers who’ve become fiction writers,” he said further.
He hasn’t swum in over 20 years, since he has been now spending his time dedicated to his family and his big swim-training business, along with starting his crime mystery author career.
He knew for a long time that he wanted to become a mystery writer. In 2006 he started thinking about writing in earnest when he accepted a private apprenticeship in crime fiction for about five years. During this time he read numerous books in the crime mystery genre, and in 2012 he knew that he was as prepared for writing as he ever would.
Casey Barrett’s debut novel, Under Water, was published in November 2017 by Kensington Books. Drawing from the author’s vast knowledge about swimming, the book focuses on swimming mixed with crime.
Duck Darley is an investigator who has to find a missing girl whose brother was once an Olympic swimming champion. He was also Duck’s teammate.
Duck himself was once a competitive swimmer who squandered his money and his future by drinking and being a petty criminal, which landed him in jail.
Now, Duck works as an unlicensed private investigator, working for the Manhattan elite who hires him to find proof of their cheating spouses.
The missing girl he has to find, Madeline McKay, disappeared over Labor Day weekend. She had a promising athletic career ahead of her as well. When Duck starts to investigate, he is drawn back into the glamorous world of competitive swimming, which brings back long-lost memories best forgotten.
Duck Darley and his partner, Cass, are broken but very human people. They are not always the most likable ones, but they do get the job done. It is sad, though, to see that Duck is still drinking and popping pills as they were supplements (they’re not).
Having read the book, I do have to admit that there were terms and details I was not very familiar with. They will be very familiar, however, to people involved in competitive and elite swimming. But, for the crime mystery itself, it was a good book.
The second book in the Casey Barrett Duck Darley series brings back Duck to solve a murder which was tasked with solving by Ducks’ former colleague, Cass. After her boyfriend gets killed in the Catskills while researching old doping experiments that happened during the Cold War for East German Olympic athletes, Cass knows he didn’t die of natural causes. He was murdered and wants Duck to find out the truth, especially when she is arrested by the police on assumption of murder.
Duck now has to solve the case and keep everyone he holds dear from being harmed in the process.
A third book in the Duck Darley series is published in 2019 with the title The Tower of Songs. The book features once again Duck Darley, unlicensed P.I., this time accepts a missing person’s case from Layla Soto, a teenager he can’t refuse to help. She says she has video evidence of her father, hedgefund tycoon being abducted, and she suspects her Chinese mother might be the culprit.
Casey Barrett is not the only author to focus on athletics and murder in his books. The author Alina Adams is writing her Figure Skating Mystery series, and popular author, Harlan Coben, has his Myron Bolitar series, focusing on a sports agent turned PI as well.
Casey Barrett Awards and Nominations
- Under Water was nominated for the Shamus Award in the Best First Novel category in 2018
- The Tower of Songs was nominated for the Shamus Award in the Best Hardcover Novel category in 2020
Praise for Casey Barrett
Now and again a debut novel comes along that blows you out of the water. Charles Willeford is rarely mentioned much these days yet his Hoke Moseley series is among the true classics of the genre. Casey is the rightful heir. A novel that sparkles with wit, sass, and wonderful narrative style. The book sings in its sheer narrative momentum. Here be the beginnings of a superb series. (Ken Bruen)
Olympic swimmer Barrett dives into the disturbing side of competitive sport with his savage thriller debut (Publisher Weekly)
Casey Barrett should find himself in the big pool of crime writers with this deftly conceived, crisply written debut. Slick and brash, with a little New York hip thrown in, it does for competitive swimming what Megan Abbott did for gymnastics, exposing the poison at the heart of a coach’s and a family’s need to win. (Andrew Gross)
Casey Barrett, an ex-Olympian, knows what he’s writing about in this sordid tale of murder and sport. This one has it all: mystery, suspense, secrets, and a longing for new adventure. It should be mandatory reading for all thriller aficionados. (Steve Berry)
“Deliciously lascivious and violent, Under Water’s hero is impossible not to cheer on. The pull of his dark world will keep readers captivated to the last page. (Kyle Mills)
References
Books Reading Order » Crime Mystery Authors »
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