She looked at Vinnie and nodded across at it. Vinnie nodded in return, silently agreeing with her hypothesis that the body must have been hoisted over the hedge and fence to have landed where it was, in such a twisted, unnatural position. Publisher Ciara Considine added: "We’re thrilled to publish Marie Cassidy’s debut fiction. Fans of Patricia Cornwell will delight in her creation, Dr Terry O’Brien.

You’re looking for patterns, that’s all we work on, patterns of injuries, patterns of whatever, so we’ve never really seen a pattern emerging here.”She recounts her work following the tragic deaths of Rachel O'Reilly, Siobhan Kearney, Robert Holohan, Tom O'Gorman and others - along with the Stardust exhumations and lesser known cases from her long career - outlining the subtle methods by which pathology and the justice system meet. John Gilligan lifts lid on life of crime and suspected role his gang played in Veronica Guerin's murder

McDonnell, Ciara (11 May 2021). "Dr Cassidy's Casebook: A harrowing look behind the scenes of some of Ireland's most gruesome deaths". Irish Examiner . Retrieved 6 September 2022. Retired State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy arriving to the trial of murdered schoolgirl, Ana Kriegel (Image: Collins Photo Agency)You have to have a certain personality, a very odd personality,” Cassidy laughs. The 67-year-old, originally from Rutherglen in Glasgow, studied medicine there and expected to “end up as a GP”. But she found she was better with deceased patients than live ones, and soon became fascinated with forensic pathology.

Hachette Books Ireland will publish her debut in autumn, the same publishers she worked with on her bestselling memoir Beyond The Tape in 2020. She became Ireland's State Pathologist from 2004 until 2018, her image synonymous with breaking news of high-profile cases - a trusted figure in turbulent times. Everybody was saying I’d be demented with boredom so I made a plan and decided that I was going to treat the first year like a gap year. So we moved house, I wrote the book, and I decided I’d start getting fit and looking after myself. Coming towards the end of the year I thought, “Okay, I’ve had the gap year, what am I doing next year?” And then the pandemic hit! I was quite delighted! I must be the only person in the world who is quite delighted that we can’t go anywhere! There are two old dears living next to us who are in their 80s and they are obviously shielding and they’re saying to me, “Why are you shielding? You don’t need to!” And I’m like, “I know, I know, but I just think it’s best for everyone!”[laughs] Pic: Lili Forberg for VIP Magazine But before saying yes to taking part in the RTÉ show, the mother of two consulted her husband Philip and their adult children Kieran and Sarah — who she did not want to embarrass.

Just like Cassidy herself, the character of Terry O’Brien has arrived in Ireland from Scotland to take up a position of state pathologist. I’d been doing it for nearly 40 years so it’s just second nature to me. I knew when I came into it that that’s what it was going to be like,” Cassidy explains. “Criminals don’t take a holiday and death doesn’t take a holiday, so you’re just prepared to go out at odd times and unfortunately, the nature of the work is that most bad things happen at weekends and at night so you just accept that and get on with it.”