(Theyre keeping the suspects identity under wraps for now.)
Read on for more, and check an exclusive look at the cover art above.
The story painted a picture of police corruption, and this was one example of many.
Credit: West Cork
He said he couldnt really talk as part of the conditions of being on trial.
He was selling a bag of lettuce that hed grown, which was so strange.
We ended up spending this totally bizarre day trip with the guy.
He suggested we go and browse the local market and take his car.
I found myself in his car going down the narrow laneways of West Cork.
How did that relationship with him evolve?SB:Again, in surprising ways.
Hes a surprising guy.
Hes a very compelling character.
The surprising thing about him is how generous he was with his time.
Our first impressions of him were kind of standoffish, but he quickly dispelled that by being totally welcoming.
It wasnt just us pursuing him; wed get calls from him ourselves.
We became quite regular attendees at his kitchen table.
JF:Early on in the investigation, he had done lots of media and was criticized for it.
So in more recent years hes been more selective about what media inquiries he takes up.
He was very careful with the media and knows journalists and all the rest of it.
So we had to get our approach right.
Its about the people there and the victims family.
Its the people and how they reacted to those murders that we found so fascinating.
Some peoples stories have changed.
But its so true.
Thats what makes it so unusual.
It became this haven on the edge of Europe for people who just wanted to start again, essentially.
Which you kind of get sometimes, these communities on the edge.
The title, our sense that we really wanted West Cork to be a character in itself.
Its trying to move on from this terrible crime, but because of the unresolvedness, they cant.
SB:Or gratuitous.
JF:Or gratuitous, yeah.
Speaking to the people in West Cork, it was clear that this story is still very much alive.
People who approached us after the interviews they gave us said they found it quite cathartic.
One woman we spoke to who was a witness in the investigation was a close neighbor of the suspect.
More broadly, this is landing in the midst of a true-crime boom.
People remain attracted to this genre.
It allows you and the listener to pick over the details.
At the center of it is this curious guy who finds himself in an extreme situation.
How would you act?
How does an innocent person act, anyway?
That was the immediately fascinating question for us.
Its 20 years of absurdly dramatic history.
Im still stupefied by how the thing played out in the way it did.
To do it justice, we wanted to do podcasting because it felt like the perfect fit for it.
Because the suspect is this huge, overbearing character.
Flower sellers and pub owners that we talked to know exactly what they think of him.
Its become the suspects story rather than Sophies story and West Corks story.
We went back and forth all the time; we hope listeners do the same.
We wanted to create a world and to really transport people to West Cork.
