Very often when an author changes genre and picks a pseudonym so not to confuse his existing fans, he makes a secret of it and the publishers sell it into the trade as a first novel and only sometimes acknowledges it as being from an established ‘bestselling’ name. Well, here there is no secret. We know that Benjamin Black is John Banville, winner of the Man Booker Prize in 2005 with The Sea, so we know the quality of writing is going to be good but can a literary prize winner write crime? Oh yes … this is startlingly disturbing, gripping stuff introducing an aptly named series character, Quirke, in a complex, absorbing plot centred around a secret society within the Catholic Church in Dublin. It’s first-rate.
The Quirke series
1. Christine Falls
2. The Silver Swan
3. Elegy for April
4. A Death in Summer
5. Vengeance
Comparison: Ian Rankin, Simon Kernick, Robert Edric.
| Genres: |
Historical crime and mysteries Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction Crime and mystery: police procedural Thriller and Suspense |