A Death in Summer (Quirke Mysteries, 4) - Hardcover

Black, Benjamin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0330509098 ISBN 13: 9780330509091

Publisher: Mantle, 2011

Synopsis

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 Françoise 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 this title

Review:

The literary novelist John Banville (who writes his crime fiction under the alliterative moniker ‘Benjamin Black’) has built up a faithful following for his idiosyncratic historical outings (set in the 1950s) featuring his pathologist anti-hero Quirke. It’s not difficult to see why. Just a couple of chapters of the new novel, A Death in Summer, is an object lesson in Banville/Black’s highly individual skills; he is a writer whose grasp of period and locale is second to none.

The brutal death of newspaper tycoon Richard Jewell at his country property (the shotgun that killed him clutched in his dead hands) is not the suicide it initially appeared to be, and has propelled Quirke into the search for a ruthless murderer. The dead man’s enemies are legion, and the immediate suspect is one of his most powerful rivals, but as Quirke, his assistant Sinclair and his colleague Inspector Hackett realise, there is a complex mystery behind the death. And just what is the involvement of the dead man’s mysterious wife, the seductive Françoise d’Aubigny?

As we are reminded here, Quirke himself is the author’s ace-in-the-hole: badly coordinated, prone to drink and constantly dealing with his own demons, he’s a highly individual protagonist in the over-crowded crime fiction field. Similarly, the Dublin which is the setting here is conjured with the customary skill, while the details of life in fifties Ireland are presented with acute precision, both these elements making up for the over-familiar plot revelations. A Death in Summer is as engrossing a piece of writing as anything in the current historical crime field; readers will be happy to visit vintage Dublin in the company of the badly-dressed but brilliant Quirke. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

'A writer whose use of English can create an almost sensuous frisson.' --Independent Viewspaper

'With Quirke, he 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.' --Guardian Review

'The horror at the heart of this bleak, brutal novel pierces deep into the soul of Ireland.'
--Metro

'Another sophisticated slice of Irish noir' --Irish Times

'Black/Banville's prose has a radiant sorrowful clarity . . . However the great strength of the Quirke novels - their poetic expansiveness - remains, as the horror at the heart of this bleak, brutal novel pierces deep into the soul of Ireland' --Metro

'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 Dublin here has a richness reminiscent of the city's greatest chronicler, Joyce, while the 1950s are evoked with pinpoint precision. Raymond Chandler, too, spent little time on his plots; his genius was to reinvent the tropes of detective fiction so consummately that readers barely noticed the rickety narrative structure . . . a highly professional and engaging piece of work' --Independent

'A detective novel has an emotionally insecure life insurance risk at its centre: the challenge is what can be achieved, linguistically and psychologically, around these fixed points. The answer, in the Quirke series, is a great deal . . . But the main point of Black, as it is with Banville, is the work the words do . . . his sentences are a regular pleasure . . . There are also frequent taut metaphors in the Chandler/Fleming style . . . with Quirke, he 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' --Guardian

'A swift, hopscotching murder mystery . . . A beach read for the brainy'
--LA Times

'My new favourite is "A Death in Summer." It is a quick read, building in intensity like the heat of a July day before tapering off to a cooler twilight of revelation and reconciliation. If it's mysteries you crave, and if shimmering sentences refresh you even more reliably than would a two-week vacation at the shore, then Quirke -- mournful, shambling, guilt-ridden, whiskey-soaked and irresistible -- is just the ticket'
--Chicago Tribune

`It is, in essence, a timeless story of how flawed personalities can make efforts towards the greater good, while others spread a toxic and debilitating evil...It is all beautifully done...the Dublin characters are achingly authentic...Banville's lightness of touch merely emphasizes the darkness at the heart of A Death in Summer...[he] may be dabbling with another oeuvre...but he has retained his ability to captivate, intrigue and provoke.' --The Glasgow Herald

About this edition

• Publisher: Mantle
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0330509098
• ISBN 13: 9780330509091
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320