Irish True Crime Books

1. The Killing Of Father Niall Molloy

by Maresa Fagan

€13.99 €18.20

Separating fact from fiction, this book re-examines the death of a priest in 1985. The events of that night fuelled speculation and allegations of a cover-up by the State and Church. His death still remains unsolved. TV producer Sharon Lawless, and journalist Maresa Fagan, delve further into the case to test evidence and follow the money trail.

2. Unlocked

by David McDonald

€16.99 €21.00

For over thirty years, David McDonald worked in Ireland's three biggest prisons. This is his story. As a young officer, McDonald got a baptism by fire when he started in Mountjoy in 1989. It was a chaotic, smelly and overcrowded place where, inevitably, the approach to keeping order was primitive. Returning to his hometown two years later, he entered Portlaoise, then Europe's most secure prison due to the presence of IRA and other subversive prisoners. Portlaoise and the Midlands Prison, where he moved in 2000, were also where Ireland's emerging class of serious gangsters were housed and McDonald had daily dealings with household names such as John Gilligan, Christy Kinahan, Brian Meehan, Dessie O'Hare and, latterly, killers like Graham Dwyer. McDonald also shares vivid accounts of the never-ending war of attrition with prisoners over the traffic in contraband like drugs and phones. Though he rose through the ranks, in time McDonald came to question aspects of what is often a brutal and under-resourced system - concerns that led to him becoming a whistle-blower. The boredom, the tension, the constant fear, the occasional flashpoints of extreme violence, the moments of comedy, of tragedy and of surprising grace are all captured here with extraordinary honesty and self-knowledge. Written with the help of award-winning journalist and author Mick Clifford, Unlocked is a jaw-dropping and authentic account of life in the toughest of workplaces.

3. Clash of the Clans

by Nicola Tallant

€9.99 €12.60

Clash Of The Clans is a story that traces the emergence of the Irish mafia fromthe streets of Dublin to the highest echelons of global organised crime and right intothe heart of professional boxing.

4. The hitmen

by Stephen Breen

€11.99 €14.00

The No 1 Bestseller! 'A triumph' Nicola Tallant, Sunday World Crime World podcast 'An incredible catalogue of mayhem ... amazing' Pat Kenny, Newstalk 'Riveting' Irish Times Meet the Wilsons - the deadliest family in crime Brothers Eric, Keith and John Wilson, their cousin Alan, and nephew Luke shared a trade - assassination. Working for Ireland's criminal gangs they brought bloodshed and chaos to the streets. The Wilsons were not choosy about their targets. Hutches, Real IRA chiefs or random opponents from pub rows - they were all the same to them. Nor were they picky about motives - as long as the price was right, they asked no questions. The Hitmen is the shocking story of how a family cornered the market in intimidation and vengeance. It details the terrible cost in human suffering, particularly the death of an innocent teenage girl, Mariaora Rostas, when she randomly crossed their path. And it reveals how, one by one, each of the Wilsons was put out of business. The Hitmen draws on exclusive access to wire taps, case files and interviews with sources close to the gang who have never spoken before. No 1 bestselling authors Stephen Breen and Owen Conlon have written an extraordinary account of a family business like no other.

5. Gilligan

by Paul Williams

€9.99 €14.00

John Gilligan is one of the most notorious and hated criminal figures in Irish history. His name is indelibly etched in the national psyche a quarter of a century after he crossed the line to organise the execution of the fearless, high-profile journalist Veronica Guerin. Gilligan's motive for the assassination was, in the words of the prosecution at a subsequent murder trial, 'the necessity of having to protect an evil empire'. At the time Gilligan was one of the most powerful and feared godfathers in the country who controlled a colossal drugs empire and the underworld's most dangerous mob. Gilligan tells the story of a young man's rise through the ranks of gangland following his journey from petty thief to public enemy number one. He was part of the generation of young criminals - like the General, the Cahills, the Hutches - who ushered in the phenomenon of organised crime in Ireland and became household names in the process. This close-up look at a criminal mastermind contains new details including a graphic account of the planning of the Guerin murder, drawn from a sealed statement which was never used, and the prison time and criminal activity which have occupied Gilligan since, up to his recent arrest in Spain on drug trafficking charges.

6. The witness

by Nicola Tallant

€9.99 €12.60

'A superb book... Joey's story is extraordinary and its authenticity and relevance to the times we're living in is stunning' Eamon Dunphy 'Gritty, terrifying and the most incredible true gangland story you will ever read. The Witness is hard to put down but will be harder to forget.' Donal MacIntyre Joey O'Callaghan was just 18 years old when he became a ghost - the youngest ever person to be signed up to the Witness Protection Programme. Groomed into a drug gang from the age of 10, a cold-blooded assassination sickened him to his core, and he broke the golden bond of gangland silence. His evidence won murder convictions against two of the most violent drug bosses in Ireland. Relocated to England with a new identity, Joey had to face the world alone, and soon realised it was he who had received the life sentence. 15 years on, the ripple effects of the gunshots that rang out that night continue to leave a devastating legacy for everyone. None more so than Joey 'The Lips'. This is his story.

7. The Monk

by Paul Williams

€9.99 €14.00

On the streets of the tough Dublin inner-city neighbourhood where he grew up, Gerry Hutch was perceived as an ordinary decent criminal, a quintessential Robin Hood figure who fought the law - and won. To the rest of the world he was an elusive criminal godfather called the Monk: an enigmatic criminal mastermind and the hunted leader of one side in the deadliest gangland feud in Irish criminal history. The latest book from Ireland's leading crime writer Paul Williams reveals the inside story of Hutch's war with former allies the Kinahan cartel, and how the once untouchable crime boss became a fugitive on the run from the law and the mob - with a ?1 million bounty on his head. The Monk is an enthralling account of the rise and fall of a modern-day gangster, charting the violent journey of an impoverished kid from the ghetto to the top tier of gangland - until it all went wrong.

8. Tales from the fraud squad

by Willie McGee

€15.26 €16.95

Tales from the Fraud Squad takes the reader on a journey from Willie McGee's childhood in Mayo to the mean streets of Dublin as a fresh-faced officer in the late seventies, before rising through the ranks to become Head of the Garda Fraud Squad. McGee recounts extraordinary stories of elaborate forgeries, outrageous insurance scams and intricate crimes - as well as explaining the ingenious manner in which officers amassed evidence and brought perpetrators to court. The former Superintendent writes fluidly and incisively, and tells his story with an open-hearted charm and warmth. With over 30 years on the Force, McGee encountered all manner of crime, serious, cynical and, occasionally almost comedic. McGee was at the centre of tens of cases, from  the nationally perilous case of the State being threatened with the release of Foot and Mouth, to the Nigerian con-man who ingested a $56 million dollar bank draft to destroy evidence, to the fraudster who actually forged Garda pay checks - and there was even one perpetrator who went as far as impersonating Willie to gain free entry and refreshments at the Galway Races!  Whether dealing with a common criminal or former Taoiseach Charles Haughey under the spotlight of a tribunal, McGee was unwavering in his quest for the truth. His work won national and international recognition, regularly working with the US Secret Service and other American federal agencies. After leaving the police force, he went on to lead the first specific fraud investigative unit for a national insurance company. As McGee succinctly puts it, 'money is never free and those who were caught paid a severe price for thinking that it was'. Equally well known for his heroics on the football field, Mayoman Willie 'Four Goal' McGee introduces a host of colourful characters - the con artists and tricksters he encountered in the line of duty - and paints a vivid picture of the murky underworld of Ireland in the 1980s and '90's.  The book's closing chapters also touch on the author's near fatal stroke, remarkable recovery and his subsequent advocacy for the Irish Heart Foundation - who will benefit from the book's sales.

9. The cartel

by Stephen Breen

€9.49 €14.00

The No.1 Bestseller The definitive account of the rise of the Kinahan gang and the deadly feud that shocked a nation and brought the gang to the edge of destruction. __________ February 2016. A daring gun attack in the Regency Hotel brings Dubliner Christy Kinahan and his international criminal cartel to a horrified public's attention. Kinahan's son Daniel, the target of the attack, escapes. A trusted henchman dies at the scene. And the deadly rivalry between the Kinahans and the family and associates of the veteran Dublin gangster Gerry Hutch becomes all-out war. It results in a never-before-seen level of international cooperation - including Irish, UK and US police forces - to topple the Kinahan gang. The Cartel offers a unique behind-the-scenes account of how the Kinahan organised crime organisation got so big, and why a local feud sowed the seeds for the gang's destruction. __________ 'It's incisive, it's intriguing, it's fascinating' Ryan Tubridy 'Fascinating!' Keith Ward, FM104

10. Crowded House

by Frank Greaney

€14.99 €17.99

In June 2017, a woman out picnicking in the Wicklow Mountains stumbled upon something in a ditch that would set in motion a chain of events that horrified the nation. It was the first of fifteen dismembered body parts belonging to retired hospital worker Patricia O'Connor. Kieran Greene, the father of three of Patricia's grandchildren, later handed himself in, confessing to beating her to death in the home they shared in what he said was an act of self-defence. He also confessed to dismembering her and disposing of her remains but later changed his story, implicating several members of Patricia's household, including her husband and daughter. In this nuanced and meticulous account of a deeply disturbing crime, journalist Frank Greaney, who covered every day of the shocking trial and conducted exclusive follow-up interviews with other members of Patricia's family, uncovers the story behind the gruesome murder of Patricia O'Connor, and looks at who Patricia really was.

11. Badfellas

by Paul Williams

€9.49 €14.00

Badfellas is the definitive account by Ireland's most respected crime writer and journalist, Paul Williams, of how organized crime evolved in Ireland over the past four decades. Drawing on his vast inside knowledge of the criminal underworld, an unparalleled range of contacts and eye witness interviews, Williams provides a chilling insight into the godfathers - and events - that have dominated gangland since the late 1960s. Until the explosion of paramilitary violence in the 1970s, Ireland was a criminal backwater. However, petty criminals with dreams of the big time were quick to emulate the ruthless actions of the subversives. Organized crime took hold in Ireland and soon armed robberies, kidnappings and murder became commonplace. After the introduction of heroin to Ireland by Dublin's Dunne family in the late 1970s, there was no going back. Badfellas traces how the hugely lucrative drug trade that then emerged led to the gang wars that have corroded communities and devastated countless lives. Badfellas describes in gripping detail the shocking depths to which the mobsters have sunk. Badfellas is essential reading for anyone who cares about keeping communities safe

12. The making of a detective

by Pat Marry

€10.99 €15.40

When he retired in 2018 Pat Marry had been instrumental in solving dozens of serious crimes, including many murders. But as a newly qualified garda in 1985, Marry had no idea how to become a detective. He soon realised he would have to learn on the job - put himself forward and show that he had what it took. Taking initiative, following up hunches (even far-fetched ones), obsessing about details, trying new investigative techniques, thinking laterally - these were essential. In addition, you had to be a bit of a psychologist. The Making of a Detective follows Pat Marry's path from rookie to Detective Inspector through the stories of key cases he worked on and investigations he led. It includes high profile cases like Rachel Calally's murder by her husband Joe O'Reilly. But there are also stories that have faded from public memory, such as the 1995 murder of Marilyn Rynn, which involved the first use of DNA evidence to solve a crime in Ireland. Or the 2001 murder of Mary Gough, a case solved mainly by scrutinizing her husband's internet use - then a new investigative tool. The Making of a Detective is a unique and gripping insight into the work of a dedicated garda operating at the very top of his profession. 'An absolutely fascinating book ... Really interesting stories and insights' Sean O'Rourke, RTÉ Radio 1 'An absolute must-read . . . as page turning as a crime novel' Irish Examiner

13. My brother Jason

by Tracey Corbett-Lynch

€7.49 €9.99

In August 2015, Limerick man Jason Corbett was murdered by his wife, Molly Martens, and her father, ex-FBI agent Tom Martens, in the bedroom of their luxury North Carolina home. He had been savagely beaten to death with a baseball bat and brick while his children slept nearby. For his sister, Tracey Corbett-Lynch, and the rest of his family in Ireland it was just the beginning of the nightmare that would involve a custody battle for his orphaned children, an online hate campaign by Molly Martens and, ultimately, the gripping trial that would lead to her conviction, alongside her father, for his murder. Here, for the first time, Tracey Corbett-Lynch tells her family's side of the story. With full access to Jason's letters, emails, keepsakes and photographs, it is the story of how an ordinary, loving family was torn apart by the brutal murder of their beloved brother.

14. Murder at Roaringwater

by Nick Foster

€12.60

'Murder at Roaringwater' is the inside story of the final days of young Frenchwoman, Sophie Toscan du Plantier. This is a violent, unresolved murder, where the victim seemed to have a premonition of her own terrible end. For six years, Nick Foster has been piecing together the life and death of Sophie, who was brutally killed outside her cottage in rural West Cork in 1996. He also developed an ongoing friendship with the Englishman long-suspected of her murder, Ian Bailey, and his partner, Jules, the couple at the centre of the case. This story is as fascinating as it is tragic. It follows Nick in Paris and Ireland during his dedicated investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sophie's murder, his quest to reveal her killer and efforts to understand what the motive could have been for such a terrible crime.

15. A dream of death

by Ralph Riegel

€12.74 €17.99

'It was French film-maker Sophie Toscan du Plantier's dream to have a holiday home in beautiful Schull in west Cork. But on 23 December 1996, she was brutally murdered outside that holiday home, the poetry book she had been reading chillingly left open on a page occupied by the Yeats poem 'A Dream of Death'. For 23 years the story of her murder has not left the headlines, the victim overshadowed by Ian Bailey, the main suspect in the case, who has consistently maintained his innocence and claimed attempts were made to frame him for the crime, but who was the focus of a historic trial in absentia in Paris in 2019. Here, in the definitive account of what became Ireland's most notorious unsolved crime, Ralph Riegel delves into the facts and theories of the unsolved murder that caused such shock waves in Sophie's native France and in the quiet Cork countryside she had chosen as her retreat.

16. The boy who never came home

by Emma McMenamy

€8.99 €12.60

The disappearance of schoolboy Philip Cairns has baffled detectives and his family and remains unsolved 35 years later, despite an intensive garda investigation, extensive searches and multiple media appeals. The quiet 13-year-old was snatched in broad daylight while returning to school in Rathfarnham, Dublin, on a bright autumn day, never to be seen again. 'The Boy Who Never Came Home' will give the inside story on the investigation from the detectives who worked on the case as well as their theories on what they believe may have happened to the missing teenager. The book scrutinises in-depth the only named suspect, prolific paedophile Eamon Cooke, who was dubbed Ireland's Jimmy Saville. New revelations unearthed by the author about the serial child abuser also potentially connect him further to the young boy's disappearance.

17. The murder of Mr Moonlight

by Catherine Fegan

€9.89 €12.60

The No.1 Bestseller! 'I was a very vulnerable young woman with three small children. I was lost ... Pat Quirke tried to come in and control everything' Bobby Ryan's disappearance in rural Tipperary in June 2011 mystified all who knew him. The truck-driver and part-time DJ (known as Mr Moonlight) was an easy-going fellow with no enemies. Or so everyone thought. When Ryan's body was found 22 months later on the farm of Mary Lowry, the wealthy young widow he had been seeing, it was clear that he had met a violent end. And the most likely person to have brought about that end? Pat Quirke, the man who had 'discovered' the body - Mary Lowry's brother-in-law, financial advisor, tenant and one-time lover. Following the longest running murder trial in Irish criminal history Quirke was convicted of murder in May 2019. Getting to that day had taken years of exhaustive work by gardaì. The Murder of Mr Moonlight is the definitive account of their investigation as well as the compelling story of how an innocent man paid the price for another man's obsessions. Catherine Fegan, Irish Journalist of the Year (2017), and Chief Correspondent at the Irish Daily Mail , covered every day of Quirke's trial. Over many months she also conducted interviews in Tipperary and further afield. She has written an extraordinary insightful and meticulous account of the case that gripped the nation. '[An] excellent book that shows all the colours of the story that intrigued the nation' Irish Daily Mail 'Well-researched and highly readable ... Fegan proves her journalistic mettle, delivering forensic detail in accessible language ... Anyone who followed the trial will not be disappointed by Fegan's book' Sunday Business Post ' Absolutely compulsive reading (as I know because my wife wouldn't let me anywhere near it - but I did get it in the end!) ... a page-turner' Eamon Dunphy, The Stand

18. Fat Freddie

by Stephen Breen

€10.49 €14.00

The No 1 Bestseller 'A fascinating read' Seán O'Rourke, RTÉ Radio One 'Fat' Freddie Thompson first appeared in court in 1997. He was sixteen and already aspiring to be a major crime boss. Over the next twenty years his criminal career would be marked by mayhem, brutality and murder. In 2000 a row over a failed drugs deal ignited a murderous feud in Dublin's south inner city. The Crumlin-Drimnagh feud's first victim was a friend of Thompson's and he led his Crumlin crew in a series of tit-for-tat killings. Sixteen young men would lose their lives over the next fifteen years. Meanwhile, childhood friend, Daniel Kinahan, had become a senior figure in his father Christy Kinahan's international crime cartel. Working with the Kinahan Cartel Thompson launched himself as a drugs dealer in Dublin. When another deadly feud broke out in 2016 - between the powerful Kinahans and veteran Dublin criminal, Gerry 'The Monk ' Hutch - Thompson was ready to get his hands dirty. But Thompson's loyalty would be his undoing. In August 2018 he was convicted of murder and jailed. Fat Freddie is a gripping account of the rise and fall of Freddie Thompson. Award-winning crime journalist, Stephen Breen, co-author of the No 1 bestselling The Cartel , has written the definitive portrait of a notorious Dublin gangster, a shocking story of double-crossing, vengeance and murder.

19. Almost the perfect murder

by Paul Williams

€9.49 €14.00

'A book that had to be written and it's really well written ... fascinating.' Ray D'Arcy, RTÉ Radio 1 'A great book ... really comprehensive' Miriam O'Callaghan, RTÉ 'Fascinating' Pat Kenny, Newstalk 'It is very rare for murder to involve the degree of calculation revealed in this case' Irish Times For over a year everyone assumed missing Dublin woman Elaine O'Hara had ended her own life. But after her remains were found gardaì discovered that Elaine was in thrall to a man who had spent years grooming her to let him kill her. That man was Graham Dwyer, a married father of three and partner in a Dublin architecture practice. Almost the Perfect Murder details the exhaustive investigation - one of the most complex and chilling in Irish criminal justice history - that allowed gardaì to build a case against Dwyer. And it outlines the twists and turns - both in the courtroom and behind the scenes - during the dramatic trial that followed. Almost the Perfect Murder contains startling new material based on extensive research conducted especially for the book. This includes fresh insights into the garda investigation and background information on Graham Dwyer. This is the definitive account of the case that gripped the nation by Ireland's leading crime journalist, Paul Williams. 'An example of doggedness and tenacious police work, which saw that justice was done, and seen to be done' Irish Independent

20. Four killings

by Myles Dungan

€14.00

The story of a single family during the Irish Revolution, Four Killings is a book about political murder, and the powerful hunger for land and the savagery it can unleash. 'A vivid and chilling narrative... Confronts uncomfortable questions that still need answering' Roy Foster 'Marries acute storytelling skills with scholarship, fortified throughout by the author's wry sense of humour' Michael Heney 'Narrative history, told through a unique prism' Irish Sunday Independent 'Dungan knows his history; he also knows how to tell a story... A gem of a book' RTÉ Culture 'Sober and intelligent... Dungan does a fine job of showing that little people can make history too' Business Post Myles Dungan's family was involved in four violent deaths between 1915 and 1922. Jack Clinton, an immigrant small farmer from County Meath, was murdered in the remote and lawless Arizona territory by a powerful rancher's hired assassin; three more died in Ireland, and each death is compellingly reconstructed in this extraordinary book. What unites these deaths is the violence that engulfed Ireland during the war of independence, but also the passions unleashed by arguments over the ownership of the soil. In focusing on one family, Four Killings offers an original perspective on this still controversial period: a prism through which the moral and personal costs of violence, and the elemental conflict over land, come alive in surprising ways.

21. Death on Ireland's Eye

by Dean Ruxton

€15.29 €16.99

A tragic death, a murder trial and a 170-year-old mystery - but what really happened?   Shortly after Maria Kirwan died in a lonely inlet on Ireland's Eye, it was decided that she had drowned accidentally during a day spent with her husband on the picturesque island. This inquest verdict appeared to conclude the melancholy events that consumed the fishing village of Howth, Co Dublin, in September 1852.   But not long afterwards, suspicion fell upon Maria's husband, William Burke Kirwan, as whispers of unspeakable cruelty, an evil character and a secret life rattled through the streets of Dublin.   Investigations led to William's arrest and trial for murder. The story swelled into one of the most bitterly divisive chapters in the dark annals of Irish criminal history. Yet questions remain: does the evidence stand up? What role did the heavy hand of Victorian moral outrage play? Was William really guilty of murder, or did the ever present 'moral facts' fill in gaps where hard proof was absent?   Now, this compelling modern analysis revisits the key evidence, asking sober questions about the facts, half-facts and fantasies buried within the yellowed pages of the Ireland's Eye case files.

22. Foster's book of Irish murder

by Allen Foster

€10.76 €11.95

Allen Foster returns with the gruesome tales of some of Ireland's most infamous and lesser-known murders in history - a murder miscellany, you might say. From the murder of a teacher in his schoolyard and an ambush by dancing masked men, to the Sherlock Holmes-like investigation into the death of WWII veteran James McParland, and many more! Uncover the details behind strange cases, such as how an afternoon slice of cake led to James Finnegan's demise, how one man's dream led to a mysterious death being solved, and how a woman's corpse seemingly fell from the sky in Clare. Foster's Book of Irish Murder is full of victims and monsters, heroic detectives and false leads, killers escaping justice and mysterious unsolved cases.

23. When the hangman came to Galway

by Dean Ruxton

€16.19 €17.99

The paths of a secret paramour, a jilted lover and a reluctant hangman cross in one fateful winter week in Galway, 1885 James Berry was the notorious hangman who ended the lives of over 100 criminals in Victorian Britain and Ireland. Tortured by nightmares as he tried to come to terms with the toll his gruesome work took on him, he played a central role in some of the crimes of the century, including the hanging of William Bury, the man suspected of being Jack the Ripper. The Hangman Who Came to Galway focuses on a winter week in Irish history where Berry was tasked with bringing to a conclusion the case of two notorious murders in Galway, keeping readers transfixed as they journey with this fascinating character through nineteenth-century Ireland in all its gruesome glory.

24. The burning of Bridget Cleary

by Angela Bourke

€11.20 €14.00

In 1895 twenty-six-year-old Bridget Cleary disappeared from her house in rural Tipperary. At first, some said that the fairies had taken her into their stronghold in a nearby hill, from where she would emerge, riding a white horse. But then her badly burned body was found in a shallow grave. Her husband, father, aunt and four cousins were arrested and charged, while newspapers in nearby Clonmel, and then in Dublin, Cork, London and further afield attempted to make sense of what had happened. In this lurid and fascinating episode, set in the last decade of the nineteenth century, we witness the collision of town and country, of storytelling and science, of old and new. The torture and burning of Bridget Cleary caused a sensation in 1895 which continues to reverberate more than a hundred years later. Winner of the Irish Times Prize for Non-Fiction