How to Read Casey Barrett's Books
If you are looking for a gritty, fast-paced crime noir series that exposes the dark underbelly of high-stakes sports, Casey Barrett’s Duck Darley novels are an excellent choice. Written by a Canadian Olympian, the series offers an insider's look at the pressures, obsessions, and moral compromises of competitive athletics, all wrapped in a classic hard-boiled detective style.
Because the series features a continuous narrative arc, character development, and ongoing personal relationships that carry over from one book to the next, the recommended reading path is to follow the publication order. Reading the books chronologically is identical to the publication order, as the events in Duck Darley's life unfold sequentially.
Recommended Reading Order
- Under Water (2017)
- Against Nature (2018)
- The Tower of Songs (2019)
Detailed Book-by-Book Breakdown
1. Under Water (2017)
In his debut novel, Under Water, Casey Barrett introduces readers to Lawrence "Duck" Darley. Duck was once a prodigy in the swimming world, destined for Olympic glory. However, he squandered his talent, fell into self-destruction, followed in his fraudster father's illegal footsteps, and ended up spending time in prison. Now, he scrapes by as an unlicensed private investigator in Manhattan, tracking down cheating spouses for wealthy clients while struggling with alcohol dependency.
His past comes rushing back when he is hired to find Madeline McKay, the teenage sister of a former swimming teammate who became an Olympic champion. Madeline went missing over Labor Day weekend from her upscale West Village apartment. Duck initially suspects she is just a troubled runaway, but the investigation turns deadly when Madeline's ex-boyfriend is found brutally murdered, and the media paints her as the killer. To find the truth, Duck must descend back into the competitive swimming world he abandoned—a world filled with obsession, greed, and dangerous secrets. Under Water established Barrett's signature style and earned a Shamus Award nomination for Best First PI Novel.
2. Against Nature (2018)
The second installment, Against Nature, finds Duck Darley attempting to build a stable life. He has settled into a quiet domestic routine in Manhattan with a wealthy divorcée and her young son, trying to distance himself from his self-destructive past. However, this peace is shattered when he receives a desperate message from Cass Kimball, a former partner whom Duck once risked everything to protect.
Cass’s boyfriend has died in a mysterious fall in the Catskill Mountains. Before his death, he was researching a dark chapter of sports history: the Cold War-era doping experiments that devastated East German Olympic athletes. When Cass is arrested and charged with a double homicide following the suspicious death of a champion javelin thrower, Duck is pulled back into the shadows. He must navigate the corrupt world of professional athletic performance enhancement and international doping rings while grappling with deep doubts about Cass's innocence and true motivations.
3. The Tower of Songs (2019)
In The Tower of Songs, Duck Darley is managing a fragile state of sobriety while continuing his unlicensed investigative work in New York City. His routine of mundane divorce cases is disrupted by Layla Soto, a sharp-tongued teenager from a wealthy Park Avenue family. Layla presents Duck with video evidence showing that her billionaire father, Danny Soto, was abducted from their penthouse in one of Manhattan's tallest luxury residential towers.
Layla believes her own grandmother, a highly ambitious social climber, engineered the kidnapping to silence her son. Despite his hesitation, Duck accepts the case, which forces him to team up once again with Cass Kimball, despite the betrayal that previously threatened his life. The search for the missing billionaire quickly escalates into a high-stakes conspiracy tied to the international pharmaceutical trade. The book was inspired by the real-life abduction of Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua and the rise of luxury towers on Billionaire's Row, earning Barrett another Shamus Award nomination.
The Core Themes: Sports Noir and Authenticity
What sets Casey Barrett's crime fiction apart is the authenticity of its setting. As an Olympian who swam for Canada in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Barrett knows the physical and mental toll of elite sports. He channels this insider knowledge into his writing, creating a gritty subgenre of "sports noir" that focuses on the dark side of athletic achievement.
Throughout the Duck Darley series, readers are introduced to themes of toxic ambition, systemic doping, the psychological trauma of early athletic retirement, and the corrupt institutions that profit off young athletes. Duck Darley himself serves as a classic noir protagonist—vulnerable, deeply flawed, and haunted by what could have been, making his journey to sobriety and redemption highly compelling.
What to Know Before You Start
- Continuity: While the mystery in each book is self-contained, the overarching story of Duck's personal relationships, his struggle with addiction, and his partnership with Cass Kimball develops significantly across the trilogy. For the best experience, start with Under Water.
- Tone: The series features a dark, hard-boiled, and contemporary Manhattan noir atmosphere. It contains themes of drug abuse, violence, and corruption, making it suitable for readers who enjoy gritty crime thrillers.
- Author Background: Barrett's career outside of writing includes co-founding Imagine Swimming, a large learn-to-swim school in New York City, and writing Emmy-winning content for Olympic broadcasts, which directly informs the athletic realism of his novels.