Description
Description
When newspaper magnate Richard Jewell is found dead at his country estate, clutching a shotgun in his lifeless hands, few see his demise as cause for sorrow. But before long Doctor Quirke and Inspector Hackett realise that, rather than the suspected suicide, 'Diamond Dick' has in fact been murdered. Jewell had made many enemies over the years and suspicion soon falls on one of his biggest rivals. But as Quirke and his assistant Sinclair get to know Jewell's beautiful, enigmatic wife Francoise d'Aubigny, and his fragile sister Dannie, as well as those who work for the family, it gradually becomes clear that all is not as it seems. As Quirke's investigations return him to the notorious orphanage of St Christopher's, where he once resided, events begin to take a much darker turn. Quirke finds himself reunited with an old enemy and Sinclair receives sinister threats. But what have the shadowy benefactors of St Christopher's to do with it all? Against the backdrop of 1950's Dublin, Benjamin Black conjures another atmospheric, beguiling mystery.
About the Author
About the Author
JOHN BANVILLE was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. He is the author of numerous novels, including The Sea, which won the 2005 Booker Prize, and the DI Quirke mysteries. In 2011 he was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, in 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature, and in 2014 he won the Prince of Asturias Award, Spain's most important literary prize. He lives in Dublin.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
Praise for A Death in Summer
"Banville's books about the dour Irish pathologist named Quirke have effortless flair, with their period-piece cinematic ambience and their sultry romance. [These] books are much more like Alan Furst's elegant, doom-infused World War II spy books than like standard crime tales."--The New York Times "Banville's narratives are loaded with poetic devices."
--The New Yorker "A Death in Summer is a beach read for the brainy."
--Los Angeles Times "With Quirke, [Banville] has made a fascinating addition to the ranks of the defective detective in books that combine respectful reading of the genre with brightly original writing."
--The Guardian "Just a few pages of the latest outing (featuring his pathologist protagonist, Quirke) demonstrate just what a stylist he is; a writer whose use of English can create an almost sensuous frisson."
--The Independent "Banville has improved with every book, and the latest, A Death in Summer, is his best yet....He knows how to weave a mystery."
--The Daily Beast "Banville's latest [Quirke] novel is another complex character study disguised as a plot-driven work of genre fiction."
--The Kansas City Star Praise for John Banville "Ireland's greatest living novelist...a literary polymath."
--The New York Times "A grand writer with a seductive style."
--The New York Times Book Review "The Irish master."
--The New Yorker "One of the best novelists in English."
--The Guardian "One of the most imaginative literary novelists writing in the English language today."
--The Washington Post "[Banville's] books are like baroque cathedrals."
--The Paris Review "Prodigiously gifted. He cannot write an unpolished phrase."
--The Independent "One periodically rereads a [Banville] sentence just to marvel at its beauty."
--USA Today "Banville is a master at capturing the most fleeting memory or excruciating twinge of self-awareness with riveting accuracy."
--People
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Holt Paperbacks
Pub date:
2025-10-21
Length:
288 pages
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