Irish True Crime

Today, Tipperary-born priest Patrick Ryan cuts a modest but strong figure, to the layperson. A man of God who has been entrusted with the confessions of hundreds of earnest parishioners. But in fact his story is dark, dramatic, and pivotal to Irish history, on both sides of the border. In The Padre, award-winning investigative journalist Jennifer O'Leary exposes the paramilitary exploits of notorious former Catholic priest and active IRA supporter Patrick Ryan–exposing details which have, outside of his very guarded circles, been unknown until now.

Let This Be Our Secret is a remarkable true crime story set on Ireland's north coast where the bodies of a couple were found in a car filled with carbon monoxide fumes - the apparent victims of a suicide pact....

OVER 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD! The New York Times bestseller—for fans of The Nightingale and All the Light We Cannot See! From the bestselling author of Before I Let You Go, and the The Warsaw Orphan, Kelly Rimmer’s powerful WWII novel follows a woman’s urgent search for answers to a family...

In Paddy Whacked, best-selling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and seemingly untouchable Southie legend.

Everyone knows where they were when Ray Houghton outfoxed the Italian goalkeeper in the 1994 World Cup finals. Every television in the country was tuned in to the match, and The Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co. Down was no exception. But two miles down the road, three men with no interest in Ireland's footballing progress were planning a deadly massacre. Shortly after half-time they burst through the door of the bar and opened fire, spraying bullets indiscriminately. As they fled the scene, six innocent men lay dead or dying. 

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NOW AN FX LIMITED SERIES STREAMING ON HULU NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER From the author of Empire of Pain—a stunning, intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. One of The New York...

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. 

Irish mafia from the streets of Dublin to the highest echelons of global organised crime and right into the heart of professional boxing. When a weigh-in turns into a gangland bloodbath, the tables begin to turn on the powerful Kinahan Organised Crime Group. But is it too late to tame the beast or can the law finally catch up with the mob? With a unique insight into the rise of mob and its reach into boxing through a tapestry of confidential informants and some too-close-for-comfort experiences, Tallant brings to life one of the most extraordinary stories in modern organised crime.

The Only Man Who Walked Both Sides and Lived to Tell the Tale. In the bloody 1990s, the Boston underworld was a powder keg. On one side: the Patriarca Crime Family. On the other: the infamous Winter Hill Gang. In the middle stood Mark Silverman. Rogue Mobster is the raw, firsthand account of a man who got inside the Italian mafia and Winter Hill Gang Mark Silverman was the ultimate earner—the man who could bridge two warring families because he was too valuable to lose.—he navigated the treacherous divide between the Italian Mafia and the Irish Mob during their most violent era. While ...

When the FBI turned an Irish mobster into an informant, they corrupted the entire judicial system and sanctioned the worst crime spree Boston has ever seen. This is the true story behind the major motion picture. James "Whitey" Bulger became one of the most ruthless gangsters in US history, and...

Carrie Jade is a chilling true-crime account of Samantha Cookes, a master manipulator who spent more than a decade reinventing herself across the UK and Ireland with an arsenal of false identities. From au pair and nanny to therapist, teacher, psychologist, even terminally ill author and...

These are simple yet compelling stories, told by ordinary, and some not so ordinary, people of Ireland; amazing tales, not only of ghosts, but of poltergeists, banshees, spirit-filled houses, ghostly carriages, animal spirits, and warnings of death. If you enjoy tales of the supernatural, this is a must listen.

MUNCHAUSEN MOM is a series of true crime case opinion essays on the case of Shanda Vander Ark, the 43-year-old woman who murdered her 15-year-old son, Timothy Ferguson, by torturing him and starving him to death. Part One – July 6, 2022 ~ The Day Timothy Ferguson Died is the first of the series. These essays offer my opinion only. As an avid true crime writer and podcaster with over seventeen years of experience in the true crime community on social media, my primary focus is on cases on the public stage ~ post-conviction ~ which involve family violence and child abuse. These essays are ...

Brought to you by Penguin. The Number 1 Bestseller Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not a good place to be a woman. Among the wave of emigrants from Ireland to North America were many, many young women who travelled on their own, hoping for a better life. Some lived...

Working her way up from gruelling bootcamp training to leading a drug interdiction operation seizing €700 million of cocaine from a yacht off the Kerry coast, she was a leader among men and rose to every challenge. Developing a love of the sea, Gleeson learned that to be at one with it required agility, and a willingness to change, to go with the wind – not against it. These lessons prepared her for operating without a life raft when her personal life threw her the greatest challenge of all.

For decades the FBI let James ''Whitey'' Bulger get away with murder, allowing him continued control of his criminal enterprise in exchange for information. He went on the lam in 1995, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, 2011 followed top-ranked Osama bin Laden on the FBI'''s Ten Most Wanted List, and then was captured in Santa Monica, California weeks after Bin Laden's demise.

In 1895, Bridget Cleary was killed by those closest to her. Convicted she had been taken by fairies and replaced by a changeling, her death has long been misremembered as folklore. In truth, it was the result of sustained domestic violence, collective belief, and a legal system that failed to protect her. Drawing on contemporary trial records, newspaper accounts, and social history, The Burning of Bridget Cleary strips away myth to examine how power, belief, and authority converged to erase a woman who resisted submission. This is not a story about superstition. It is a true-crime ...

'Gripping, smart, suspenseful' EDEL COFFEY 'I could not put the book down' AMY JORDAN In a village of secrets, is anyone truly innocent? 'A page-turner' IRISH INDEPENDENT On a frosty morning, a young tourist is found dead at the bottom of the Wishing Steps at Blarney Castle. A tragic fall, the...

From the internationally bestselling author of 56 Days, a page-turning thriller about two women whose shattered lives come crashing together around a house whose secrets could bury them both. If these walls could talk, they’d scream... When Ellie moves to 1 Delaney Row, she hopes to find a...

The harrowing story of 14-year-old Kathleen who faces betrayal by a trusted family priest in a close-knit 1970s Catholic community and incarceration in an institution for "fallen women." Imagine the shame when you can't even tell the truth to those you love and they banish you to Ireland to have your baby in secret. How will poor Kathleen ever recover from her ordeal?This is a dramatic and heartbreaking story about the joys and tests of motherhood and the power of love, friendship and family ties spanning several decades. Years later, another mother, Faye, grapples with her own challenges ...