'An incredible and compelling story' MATT COOPER

'Gripping, unpretentious, brilliant and unputdownable' BUSINESS POST

A Murderer. A Leader. The Scandal of an Era.

In the summer of 1982, Irish aristocrat Malcolm Macarthur embarked on a brutal killing spree in a doomed plan to remedy his financial woes.

Two weeks later, in a sensational turn of events, he was arrested in the home of Attorney General Patrick Connolly. The scandal attracted worldwide headlines and resulted in untold damage to then Taoiseach Charles Haughey. The words he used to describe the dark events - grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented - coined the era-defining phrase GUBU.

Here, award-winning political journalist Harry McGee retraces the happenings of that long hot summer and beyond. From the cat-and-mouse game to track down an unpredictable killer to Macarthur's extraordinary capture, he considers both the life and psyche of a murderer, and that of the leading political figure of the time - a man similarly driven by greed, status and a sense of himself as existing above the law.

Including previously unknown aspects of the trial and interaction with Malcolm Macarthur himself, The Murderer and the Taoiseach is a compulsive journey through tragedy and scandal.

'Brisk, illuminating, crackling with detail' TONY CONNELLY

'A brilliant account of shocking crimes and the dramatic political crisis they caused' DAVID McCULLAGH

A shocking, page-turning account of the notorious Malcolm Macarthur case in 1980s Ireland

About the Author
Harry McGee is a political correspondent with The Irish Times and previously worked for the Irish Examiner, the Sunday Tribune, RTE and the current affairs magazine Magill, which he edited. He has written and presented TV documentaries in English and Irish for RTE and TG4, and he produced the podcast series, GUBU, for The Irish Times. A native of Salthill, Galway, he is a graduate of the University of Galway and the King's Inns. The Murderer and the Taoiseach is his first book.


Book Information
ISBN 9781399718615
Author Harry McGee
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Hachette Books Ireland
Publisher Hachette Books Ireland
Weight(grams) 260g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 128mm * 32mm