Dublin Castle, the cobblestones glistening in the sleety rain. A perfect night for a crime. . . Inside, the Balcony Room was packed with guests waiting to hear how the Irish crown jewels were spirited away, never to be heard of again.
Broadcaster Myles Dungan stepped up to the microphone: "There have been stories that the jewels never left the castle," said the author of The Stealing of the Irish Crown Jewels - An Unsolved Crime.
"The story itself . . . is quite a rollercoaster," said broadcaster Ryan Tubridy, who launched Dungan's book. "It's a great read, written with a forensic hand."
Dungan thanked Francis Shackleton, brother of the great explorer, Ernest, "for being such an interesting jewel thief". Meanwhile, Jonathan Shackleton, one of Shackleton's cousins "and keeper of the family reputation", came to the launch.
"This is one of several books trying to pinpoint where the jewels are," he said. "I'm always glad of the truth and . . . we're still talking."
Kevin Reynolds, senior producer of RTÉ's Rattlebag, sculptor Paddy Gilsenan, who created the sculpture of Gay Byrne in the grounds of RTÉ, broadcaster Freda McGough and Helen Shaw, the former head of RTÉ Radio, who is back in Dublin after a year at Harvard University, were there to lend support.
Dungan began working on the story of the missing Irish crown jewels 20 years ago. "I went back to it because I had to prepare for a television documentary this month," he said. "I'm an interviewee." One of the most exciting parts of his investigation was obtaining access to the Royal Archives in Windsor.
Dungan's brother-in-law, architect Brian Brennan, was pleased with the book because, he said: "As a Northern Ireland unionist, I feel it's important that the truth be told when so much is surrounded in secrecy."
The Stealing of the Irish Crown Jewels - An Unsolved Crime, by Myles Dungan, is published by TownHouse