It probably says a lot about a nation when the person tasked with investigating the cause of violent deaths becomes something of a household name. Or maybe it's just another indication of our fascination with true crime. Either way, there's one name that's been inextricably linked to a lot of high-profile murders in Ireland over the last 15 years or so, but it's not a gang member or a serial killer (thankfully), it's the woman who was called upon at all hours of the day or night to attend a crime scene and investigate what happened to the victim. Dr Marie Cassidy, former state pathologist, spoke to Ray D'Arcy about her time in forensic pathology and her time out of it, as chronicled in her book, Beyond the Tape.
"For 40 years I've just spent my life with the dead – that’s my norm."
Given the often-dark subject matter of the book, Ray wondered if people reading it would be asking themselves how Marie stayed sane. It turns out Marie's recipe for holding on to her sanity was pretty sound:
"Well, probably copious amounts of wine and Coronation Street."
Ray told Marie that the first time he saw her, he thought of Kay Scarpetta, the medical examiner protagonist of Patricia Cornwall's series of crime novels. She's described as "diminutive, glamorous and blonde" – "a bit like yourself", Ray adds to Marie, who takes a second or two to reply, laughing, "But I was the real thing". She was, Ray says, a woman in a man's world. But, Marie says, she never felt like any of her colleagues had a problem working with her.
"I think it was just this old adage that if you don't see somebody doing something, you don't think of doing it yourself. And women just hadn't thought to go into it because it's not for everybody."
That's for sure. Marie admitted that, as a doctor, she's more comfortable with dead bodies than live ones. But that's the beauty of the medical profession – there are all sorts of jobs for all sorts of people:
"The good thing about medicine is that there's a niche for everyone, whether you're the sociable type who likes seeing their patients, if you're the ones who want to lock themselves away in a laboratory or in a mortuary, there's something for you. And now, of course, we're talking about the Covid and vaccines and research. There's, you know, doctors can go into this side of medicine, so there's something for everyone."
Is Marie missing the dead since she retired?
"I thought I would miss it dreadfully, but thankfully, I've got over it. I've got over my obsession with death."
People's fascination with true crime is something that interests Ray and he asks Marie why she thinks it's such a popular genre.
"I just think everybody's inherently nosey and they just want to know what's going on. And as long as it's not affecting you and your family you feel as if, 'Well, I can peer into this, but then I can jump back out again and it won't affect me.'"
Marie was state pathologist for many of Ireland's most infamous murders over the past 20 years or so and she’s written about them in her book. You can hear her discussing her experiences of them with Ray, as well as more true crime nuggets from her book, by going here.
Beyond the Tape: The Life and Many Deaths of a State Pathologist by Dr Marie Cassidy is published by Hachette.
Niall Ó Sioradáin