The Killing of Major Denis Mahon: A Mystery of Old Ireland – The True Crime History of the Great Famine and a Landlord's Assassination

by Peter Duffy

At the height of the Irish Famine, now considered the greatest social disaster to strike nineteenth-century Europe, Anglo-Irish landlord Major Denis Mahon was assassinated as he drove his carriage through his property in County Roscommon. Mahon had already removed 3,000 of his 12,000 starving tenants by offering some passage to America aboard disease-ridden "coffin ships," giving others a pound or two to leave peaceably, and sending the sheriff to evict the rest. His murder sparked a sensation and drove many of the world's most powerful leaders, from the queen of England to the pope, to debate its meaning. Now, for the first time, award-winning journalist Peter Duffy tells the story of this assassination and its connection to the cataclysm that would forever change Ireland and America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ireland, Crime, Mystery, True Crime

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Peter Duffy is an author and journalist based in New York City. He has written three books of historical non-fiction - The Bielski Brothers (HarperCollins, 2003); The Killing of Major Denis Mahon (HarperCollins, 2007); and Double Agent (Scribner, 2014). His journalism has appeared in The New York Times, New York magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, the New Republic, and many other publications.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ten pounds of potatoes a day. According to this book, that's the input of your average Irish person. Astounding. I actually don't/can't believe it. When I told my coworkers, they called me a liar. I said I read it in a book.

Other than that, I did not enjoy this reading experience. As the title implies - er, as the title expressly states - this is about the murder (from ambush!) of Denis Mahon, a Roscommon County landlord. The book's not really a murder mystery, because they convicted some fellows, hanged them, and the author doesn't seriously dispute they were guilty - of conspiracy if nothing else.

You get a little about the history of 19th century Ireland; a little about the potato famine; a little about landlord/tenant law on the emerald isle; mostly, though, you are treated to a micro history of the Mahon family. There is a lot of correspondence between Mahon and his land agent, also named Mahon (though they aren't related).

As for the murder itself, it's told in three lines. I'm not a bloodthirsty person (I prefer Diet Pepsi), but when the title of the book has "Killing" in it, I expect that the killing will be a central event. Not so, child. Not so. Indeed, I almost missed the scene entirely.

(The murder is treated so perfunctorily that one is left to ponder why only one shot was fired, yet Mahon and the man sitting next to him were struck with multiple rounds; obviously, the gun was firing some sort of buckshot, yet the authori mysteriously chooses not to explain this to people who might not be familiar with weaponry.)

The overwhelming portion of the book is devoted to the minutiate of Stokestown politics, and really, what could be more fascinating?. Oh, Stokestown is the name of Mahon's town, built up by his peasants. If you don't hate the English by the end of this book (or if you aren't hungry for potatoes) then you aren't paying attention.

Anyway, this was a dry telling of an acane little bit of history. At some point while reading the next in a series of letters written by this or that priest, my attention got up and walked away.

And ate ten pounds of potatoes.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Killing of Major Dennis Mahon" covers a well-worn period of Irish history, the famine and agrarian "outrages" of secret societies. At the time, a media-sensation swirled around the murder, inquest and trial that stretched from County Roscommon (near the epicenter of the famine in Connaught) to the media organs of Dublin and London. Duffy's treatment is eminently readable, and highlights the peculiarity of the event's durability as something wonky and irreducible to contemporary/modern mindset. The murder like the potato blight itself straddles a number of fascinating transitions that were dramatized and subsequently allegorized in the Irish question - the often brutal evictions of subsistence farmers to form capital herding estates on England's model, the grudging move away from a strident belief that public relief would sap popular will to work, the anxiety surrounding popular resistance to colonialism, oath-bound societies like the Molly Maguires and the Whiteboys and nascent formation of other militant organizations of the poor, the role of the Catholic Church in the "devotional revolution" in Irish culture, and the startling reduction of Ireland's population by 25% (nearly 2 million) through eviction, immigration and famine in a single decade. Duffy strikes a taught balance between the big picture and focus on the actors and events of Mahon's murder. It's a good read for students of Irish history and those casually interested in the period alike.

[MBP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating story of the murder of a landlord at the height of the potato famine; could have been more skilfully told. It drags at times as the author quotes (and re-quotes) extensively from personal correspondence, then skims over the trial of the accused killers. I've read similarly structured books, where the author uses a specific case to look at the history and issues of the time, that have been better written. Still, this one will probably stick with me for a long time: I keep thinking of the first-person descriptions of the destitute tenants that were written before the famine.

[Manray9 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why do the Irish hate the English? Read this book!

[Janecope · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not knowing much about the Great Irish Famine, this book contained a lot of information that filled in blanks for me. Unfortunately, at times, it seemed dull and colorless.

Perhaps the fault might lie with me. In my local library, it was shelved with fictional mysteries -- one of my favorite reading categories. So my reading enjoyment was confused. Is this fiction? Is this history?

Despite my confusion, it's hard to tell who the true villains are in this tale. Was Major Mahon heartless or trying to do what he thought best? Was his agent, also named Mahon, the true heartless one or again, trying to do his job under unimaginable circumstances? The politicians? The clergy? Why did no one realize that hungry people will do desperate things? Was this planned genocide?

The death of Major Mahon did not solve the problems of his struggling, starving tenants. For some, his murder made the situation worse. In the end, there seem to be no clear cut answers. Instead we have people being the inscrutable characters in history they most often are. Perhaps some started out with the best of intentions and ended up causing more harm than good. No doubt some, most likely some political leaders, saw the potato blight as a way to restructure the Irish economy and rid the country of the poorest farmers.

Perhaps, I'll read this again and be able to understand more of a complicate story, in a complicated time, in the complicated country that is Ireland.

[Assh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now that I am out of my undergrad, I don't need to subject myself to shit like this anymore. I'm sure it would have been great when I was taking my Irish history classes, now I just wanna throw it in the bin. Byeeeee

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched account of Ireland's potato famine, and particularly its effect on Roscommon County.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting story hidden beneath really dry details, and almost too much insistence on using direct quotes from sources whenever possible made the book sort of clunky to read.

[Carl Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exploration of the Irish famine in its complexity with, perhaps, a slight bias toward the landlords.

[Chelsea T · Rating 2 out of 5]

very dry read but parts were interesting to learn

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes onto great detail of the potato famine and what led to the killing of Major Mahon.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into the Irish potato famine with the story following one particular family estate (Mahon). The book shares a lot of information about this devasting period in Ireland and the British reaction. The author leverages handwritten letters and newspaper clippings from the mid 1800s to frame the storyline.

A neat way to re-visit history, but it was not a real life murder-mystery like the book jacket might lead to believe. The death of Major Mahon is the focus, but no surprises or plot twists with the investigation. The book also had some difficult sections to read due to the inclusion of old English excerpts. But worth reading if you would like to learn about the famine.

[Mlg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffy's book about a real murder of Irish landlord Major Denis Mahon, is used to explore the deaths of hundreds of thousands of poor Irish people during the great potato famine of the late 1840's. The depiction of the cruelty that the Irish people suffered at the hands of their "landlords" is horrific. Duffy's estimates suggest as many as three million people disappeared, either through emigration or starvation.
The most interesting part of the book were the ships who brought the sick, starving immigrants to Canada and the US. Many were no better than the slave ships, and lost up to 50% of their passengers in the crossing.
If you have Irish ancestry or had a relative who left Ireland in the late 1840's, you owe it to them to read this account of their struggle.

[Chip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffy's research paints a vivid picture of the events leading up to and during the Irish Potato famine of the 1840's. He follows an upperclass family's string of patriarchs, their choices in managing their land and the consequences of those decisions. It gives a good historical perspective that is not only relevant to the Irish, but to North Americans who assimilated the famine refugees. It is a good historical read.

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're into Irish history, then this book will interest you to no end. While it is centered around the killing of one Major Denis Mahon, a landlord who had to deal with the great potato famine, it is more generally a look at the beginnings of the modern Irish "state" through those times that threatened to break Ireland. I am simply not that interested in that time, so I found it to be, while well-written and documented, rather boring.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I supposed I would have appreciated this book more if it had actually been more about the Irish Potato Famine, and less about the murder of Denis Mahon. There's a lot of interesting information here about the circumstances that led to the murder, but the primary focus of the book was on the crime, which I felt could have been covered in about half the pages.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a topic that has always fascinated me - Ireland during the Famine - This book was a real slog. A few bits where I could stay focused and interested, but mostly I finished it because I felt I should.

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history of the Irish Famine through the murder of one man. It's a little too dry for me-I would have preferred more real people stories.

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the Irish Potato Famine from this book. The book reads like a dissertation. Duffy packed in so many facts; they reduced some of the emotional impact of the tragedy.

[Laurie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was very hard to get through but I learned a little about the potatoe famine in Ireland and a lot of history.

[Bhan13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the cover looks like it's fiction it's not, and is the best book I've read about the Famine.

[Jim Noyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting read, lots of background, recommend to anyone interested in the Irish emmigration to North America.

[John Mulholland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for those interested in Irish history during the famine years.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complex but very informative; I had a hard time getting into it and then I couldn't put it down. I learned a great deal about the Irish Potato famine and the political upheaval of that time.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed telling of a murder, a series of trials and a genocide. I had to read this in the month of St Patrick's, when awareness of Irish heritage is at its peak.

[Thomas Baechle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A historical look at an event and time period in County Roscommon. It added to my understanding of the impact of the great hunger period.

[Pat Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ireland in the 1840's. A truly tragic time for tenants, and to lesser degree the landowners.