Hardcases: Small Legends or Law & Order

by Gene Kerrigan, Colette McCormack

Hard Cases is a collection of startling stories about the reality of crime and court cases in Ireland. In these stories, there are no crime bosses with quaint nicknames; the police don t collect convenient clues that tell them who dunnit.Instead, we get cases both famous and obscure in which the outcome is sometimes just, sometimes unsettling.It begins with Dessie O Hare s Last Stand, which records in breathtaking detail the inside story of a notorious kidnapping. It ends with The Small Legend of Karl Crawley, the story of a sometimes gentle, sometimes wild young Dublin man who found a shocking way of fighting back against authority.There s the story of how Peter Mathews went into a police station to answer questions about a petty crime and ended up dead, with gardai covering up the reason why. How did Fr Molloy come to die in the bedroom of his married friends? What happened when a man came home to find his daughter s boyfriend wielding a hatchet?Then there are the stories of murder, incest, libel and the legal warfare between rival Elvis fans."

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

116 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Gene Kerrigan is an Irish journalist and novelist who grew up in Cabra in Dublin. His works include political commentary on Ireland since the 1970s in such publications as Magill magazine and the Sunday Independent newspaper. He has also written about Ireland for International Socialism magazine. He was chosen as World Journalist of the Year in 1985 and 1990, and has written books, including fiction and non-fiction. His book The Rage won the 2012 Gold Dagger for the best crime novel of the year.

http://www.amazon.com/wiki/Gene_Kerri...

Reviews

[Joseph Whelan]

I enjoyed this book. It is well written and provides a lot of background information about some of Ireland's most notorious crimes.

[Morag · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not finished this yet - some of the cases are really hard to read because they are so unjust and harrowing but I really like the informal writing style and I will finish it

[Anonymous · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙄 𝙫𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 100% 𝙛𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣. 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙤. 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣𝙮𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙞’𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨. 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛. 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮 𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙎𝙥𝙮4@𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢

[Jenni V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was compelling with strong opening sentences for each story. For example, "Shercock" started with the sentence, "Peter Matthews went into Shercock leaning on a crutch and came out of the village in an ambulance".

I ended up with a 3 star rating because when the crimes were interesting I was very invested but there were a few crimes that didn't grab me. The word I seemed to use most often when jotting notes while reading was "frustrating"...sometimes it was frustration that the authorities were bumbling and the criminals were getting away, sometimes it was frustration that the authorities were corrupt and detaining the wrong people, and sometimes it was overall frustration with the system in general.

All in all, a wide variety of cases that didn't feel dated, even reading decades after being published.

Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com

[gareth cahoon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Its not worth one star

Don't waste your money on this book. I've never saw writing like this in my life. I just wonder how this writer got jobs where he has stated. Very very poor I don't know why he even bothered to get this published

[Liz mogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read about Irish crime.

[Kelli Barczynski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting cases and sad stories. Very well written.