Eddie Guerin: lover who helped May rob American Express of a quarter of a million dollars. Photograph: Daily Mirror
The amazing story of Co Longford-born "Chicago May", who early this century was dubbed "the most notorious woman in the world", is bound to attract the attention of film-makers here and abroad.
A new book on the life of May Duignan by Frank Columb tells the story of a woman who made headlines all over the world from the 1890s to the 1920s when she lived a turbulent life of crime.
Chicago May - Queen of the Blackmailers is an examination of the life of the woman who was involved in prostitution, blackmail, swindles, betrayal, conspiracy and revenge. According to Mr Columb, May also indulged in assault, barbarity, brawling, cruelty, robbery, pick-pocketing, drifting, beggary, dereliction and attempted murder.
The Longford woman operated in nine countries on four continents. British newspapers called her "the worst woman in London", "the most dangerous woman in Europe" and "the most dangerous woman in the world".
May, who was born on December 26th, 1871, was christened Mary Ann Duignan in the townland of Edenmore, in the parish of Dromard, near Granard, Co Longford.
She went to the national school in Edenmore and left home in June 1890, travelling to New York via London later that year. She moved to Chicago in 1894.
She was, by all accounts, a beauty with great charm, wit and intelligence, which she used to her advantage and the disadvantage of others.
By the time she returned to New York, she had become known as "Chicago May" because of her notorious behaviour involving prostitution, blackmail and robbery.
She was one of the first people to use photography as a method of blackmail.
Between December 1896 and March 1899, May, who used the name Mary Churchill Sharpe, had been charged with grand larceny on six occasions. She was discharged each time.
In 1900 May returned to London where she continued to ply her trade as a prostitute and a blackmailer.
She teamed up with other criminals with Irish backgrounds and they made their way to Paris.
There, May and her accomplices, on April 27th, 1901, robbed the American Express company with her lover, Eddie Guerin, and stole nearly a quarter of a million US dollars.
Guerin was captured, and so was May when she went to visit him in a Paris prison. He was sentenced to life on Devil's Island, the notorious French penal colony in Guiana.
May was sentenced to five years in Montpellier prison but there, it appears, she seduced and blackmailed the prison doctor and was released after two years and 10 months.
She returned to London and was thought to have been involved in Guerin's successful escape from Devil's Island. They were to meet again in London with disastrous consequences for May.
On June 15th, 1907, with a male accomplice, she was involved in an attempt to murder Guerin with whom she had quarrelled. As a result she was sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude in Aylesbury prison.
It was during her imprisonment there that she became acquainted with another Irish prisoner, Countess Markievicz.
In March 1917, May was released and deported to New York, where she was soon back in business, but her looks and luck had diminished and she was soon in trouble again.
She made four court appearances in New York before leaving for Detroit, where she came before the courts on prostitution and disorderly conduct charges.
Her last court appearance was at Detroit, where she was sentenced to 60 days for violation of the immigration laws.
This, according to the book, was to be her last trial and incarceration.
May moved to Philadelphia to attend the general hospital there as she was in failing health. A year later, a series of five articles on her life was published in the New York American Weekly.
She was later to expand on these articles and published her autobiography, Chicago May, in August 1928.
Nine months later she died in Philadelphia General Hospital and is buried in Fernwood Cemetery, Philadelphia.
Mr Columb, who is related to May through marriage, confessed that by the time he had finished his book he was not very fond of her.
"She was unbelievable, but there were a lot of myths about her, and I hope this book will puncture a couple of them and put into focus what she really got up to," he said.
He said May had no living relatives in Co Longford, but she is not forgotten and is still spoken about by older people there.
Mr Columb, who is a native of north Longford, said May was a larger-than-life woman who appeared to have enjoyed what she did because she never expressed regret for her crimes.
"She led an astonishing life and was a truly amazing woman. I hope people will enjoy reading about her," he said.
Chicago May - Queen of the Blackmailers is available in most bookshops at £18 hardback and £12 softback.