A real-life murder mystery from old Dublin

The murder of Mr Little

News today of my next big project – I’m delighted to be writing a book for Harvill Secker, for publication in November 2021.

The Dublin Railway Murder tells the story of a notorious crime perpetrated in the Broadstone railway terminus in Dublin in 1856. One morning that November, the station’s cashier George Little was found dead underneath his desk, … Read more

Emergency coffee

This story of misadventure and an unusual resuscitation method seems particularly appropriate for what Twitter tells me is International Coffee Day. It was published in the Pacific Medical Journal in 1866; the author, Dr Cachot, was an eminent physician from San Francisco.

poisoning by aconite

The daughter of Mr. Dā€“, aged 22 months, swallowed from a vial a portion of tinct. aconite, with Read more