West Cork

Two days before Christmas 1996, the broken, battered body of Sophie Toscan du Plantier was found outside her vacation home in West Cork, a serene region on Ireland’s idyllic southern coast. Decades later, no one has been charged with the murder, but the aggrieved inhabitants of West Cork are convinced they know who did it - and he still lives among them.

[Contains Mature Themes] West Cork, Ireland is an outpost at the edge of Europe. Rugged, windswept, and coastal, it was a region of farmers and fisherman until the 1960s, when it was discovered by the “blow-ins”—artists, urban runaways, and people who drove until the road ran out. It was a haven for those wanting to turn their backs on their old lives and start over. But then there was a murder in West Cork, and everything changed overnight.

[Contains Mature Themes] A body is found at the end of a path leading to three houses. The police, known in Ireland as “the Guards,” have little experience with serious crime in West Cork, and the victim - a French woman with a holiday home in the area - is a mysterious figure to locals. That night, as news of the murder makes its way through the community, everyone begins to question if they were ever truly safe.

[Contains Mature Themes] Born Sophie Bouniol, the well-connected French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier was 39 when she was murdered. In a place where no one could remember the last time a murder occurred, locals speculated that the killer must be an outsider. Rumors about Sophie and her love life, fueled by tabloids, flourished. But her quieter, more bookish side was reflected in the simple, white house she kept in West Cork, and known to those who loved her most.

[Contains Mature Themes] In the weeks following the murder, the picturesque vacation town of Schull (pronounced “skull”) near Sophie’s home becomes a very different place to live. With no answers, and the investigation focusing on locals, the townspeople start watching their neighbors more closely. And the Guards begin receiving anonymous calls about a strange man in town.

[Contains Mature Themes] The Guards have a suspect - a man who has spent the last 20 years trying to convince Ireland that he is not a murderer. We begin on the first day of the investigation, tracing the suspect’s behavior over the six weeks following the murder up until the day of his arrest. What was he up to, and how did he become the central figure in one of Ireland’s most notorious murder cases?

A blow-in from Manchester, England, the suspect has been grating on locals ever since he first arrived in West Cork.

[Contains Mature Themes] On February 10, 1997, the Guards make an arrest in a well-orchestrated plan to ensnare their suspect. There’s an interrogation, a question of coercion, and an alibi that doesn’t quite hold up - but no confession. The charge doesn’t stick and someone close to the suspect appears to waver on his guilt.

[Contains Mature Themes] A game of cat and mouse ensues in which the Guards need more evidence and worry they’re being outsmarted by the prime suspect. The “Bandon Tapes,” secret audio recordings of the Guards, reveal the lengths they’re willing to go to convict their suspect - including planting spies wearing wires and other dubious tactics - to little success.

[Contains Mature Themes] After the arrest is made public, the community is terrified and convinced a murderer lives next door. Still, the suspect remains in West Cork. And it seems everyone has a theory - a story about the suspect’s strangeness - ranging from the plausible to the absurd: that he is a sexual predator; that he wanders the countryside alone, howling, driven to madness by the full moon. But as it turns out, some of the craziest rumors were coming from the unlikeliest of sources - the suspect himself.

[Contains Mature Themes] Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder is big news in Ireland - so big that the suspect takes the newspapers to court for defamation, intending to clear his name with the public. But it backfires spectacularly when the newspapers round up angry locals to testify, air secret diaries, and reveal the suspect’s long history as a domestic abuser.

[Contains Mature Themes] After the defamation trial, no one understands why the suspect is still a free man. But the case against him is quickly unraveling - there’s a new, seasoned lawyer, trouble with a key witness’ story, and questions about the legitimacy of the Guards’ investigation.

[Contains Mature Themes] If the Guards’ prime suspect didn’t kill Sophie, who did? Theories abound: a “French connection,” a murderous horse, a misidentified man in a long black coat. There are promising leads that seem to have gone unpursued by the police, and the distinct impression that the case wasn’t nearly as strong as it originally seemed.

[Contains Mature Themes] While the case reaches a stalemate in Ireland, a parallel investigation in France - spearheaded by Sophie’s family - moves forward. The suspect finds himself confronted with new charges and the community grapples with the case. Sophie’s son - just 15 when his mother was murdered - visits his mother’s favorite pub in West Cork and shares a pint with the last known person who saw her alive.

Finished listening to the story of Sophie Toscan du Plantier's mysterious murder? Hear the latest from Executive Producer, Jesse Baker, and Producers Jennifer Forde and Sam Bungey as they discuss all the burning questions of the Audible Original, West Cork: what it was like to spend a year of their lives with a suspected murderer, how the investigation was bungled, and where does the case stand now? This is a must listen for fans of the hit Audible Original series.