Dr. Quirke Novels by Benjamin Black
Another new to me is the series by Booker Award-winning novelist John Banville writing under the pen name Benjamin Black. I’m not a huge fan of Banville’s work, but the Black novels are exceptionally fine.
Set in 1950’s Dublin, the novels feature a brooding pathologist named Quirke and his colleague Detective Inspector Hackett.
In A Death in Summer(Book 4), Dr. Quirke is called in to examine the apparent suicide of a prominent Dubliner.
Black’s Dublin is a small, depressed town, not the Celtic Tiger of later decades. Quirke’s poking about stirs up powerful enemies in the Catholic Church and the government (one in the same) whose commitment to the status quo may outweigh justice.
A juicy, literate (albeit dark) novel.
Quirke Mysteries
- Christine Falls
- The Silver Swan
- Elegy for April
- A Death In Summer
- Vengeance
- Holy Orders
- Even the Dead