You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King.
And it was not improbable, that to such brutal tempers, rendered desperate by their own circumstances, even the murder of the child, against whose father, as having become suddenly active in the prosecution of smugglers, Hatteraick was known to have uttered deep threats, would not appear a very heinous crime.
... American culture has become so inured to violence in linear media that even the most heinous depictions of brutality go almost without comment.
Seth Schiesel, The New York Times, 29 October 2007. New York Times
I soon discover that people in town take a dim view if I attempt to bonne année them twice - a heinous faux pas, roughly on a par with forgetting your wife's name or placing a baguette upside-down on a table.
Michael Wright, Telegraph, 19 January 2008. Telegraph
This means he gets to wear lovely suits and administer beatings and shootings on a teenage cast committing heinous fashion crimes, such as wearing brown with black.
Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 January 2008. Guardian
