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    A Death in Summer: A Novel
    A Death in Summer: A Novel
    A Death in Summer: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    A Death in Summer: A Novel

    Written by Benjamin Black

    Narrated by John Keating

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    One of The Chicago Tribune's Best Reads of 2011

    One of Dublin's most powerful men meets a violent end— and an acknowledged master of crime fiction delivers his most gripping novel yet

    On a sweltering summer afternoon, newspaper tycoon Richard Jewell—known to his many enemies as Diamond Dick—is discovered with his head blown off by a shotgun blast. But is it suicide or murder? For help with the investigation, Detective Inspector Hackett calls in his old friend Quirke, who has unusual access to Dublin's elite.

    Jewell's coolly elegant French wife, Françoise, seems less than shocked by her husband's death. But Dannie, Jewell's high-strung sister, is devastated, and Quirke is surprised to learn that in her grief she has turned to an unexpected friend: David Sinclair, Quirke's ambitious assistant in the pathology lab at the Hospital of the Holy Family. Further, Sinclair has been seeing Quirke's fractious daughter Phoebe, and an unlikely romance is blossoming between the two. As a record heat wave envelops the city and the secret deals underpinning Diamond Dick's empire begin to be revealed, Quirke and Hackett find themselves caught up in a dark web of intrigue and violence that threatens to end in disaster.

    Tightly plotted and gorgeously written, A Death in Summer proves to the brilliant but sometimes reckless Quirke that in a city where old money and the right bloodlines rule, he is by no means safe from mortal danger.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2011
    ISBN9781427212382
    Author

    Benjamin Black

    Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. His literary crime novels inspired the major TV series, Quirke, starring Gabriel Byrne. He lives in Dublin.

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    Reviews for A Death in Summer

    3.5/5

    179 ratings34 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book starts when newspaper magnate Richard Jewel is found dead by shotgun blast in his study. At first it appears to be an obvious suicide, but matters soon shed some doubt on this. Enter Dr. Quirke, the famous pathologist. Will he be able to get to the bottom of this strange happening?I don't usually like mystery novels but I like this one. Maybe it was the setting. I have a bit of a soft spot for Ireland. But I think it was also very neatly written and the characters intrigued me. Rather than being static figures, they seemed to change and grow throughout the course of the book. I found myself wanting to know more about them. It didn't bother me in the slightest that this was not the first book in the series, but I will probably go back and read the rest now. Quite nice.
    • 4/5
      Having enjoyed Banville's forage into Chandler's World with a "new" Philip Marlow novel, "The Black-Eyed Blonde", I decided to give Banville's "Quirke" series a try. After all, it was obvious in The Black-Eyes Blonde, Banville was no slouch as a writer and, more evidence of this is that Banville was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1989 for "The Book of Evidence", won the Booker Prize in 2005 for "The Sea" and was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2013. Banville has at least a dozen or so other most-prestigious awards--and, it is rumored, he is on the short-list for a Nobel Prize in Literature. Even though Banville has labeled his crime fiction as "cheap fiction" , Banville's writing has been called perfectly crafted, beautiful, and dazzling. His skill shows up here in this pleasurable read of his "cheap fiction". The only book in the Quirke series in the Library at the time I went looking was "A Death in Summer" from 2011, by Banville's alter-ego Benjamin Black. I read it in three stayed-up-late sittings. The writing is magnificent and, as he is known-for a terrific sense of humor it, fortunately, in a subtle and not easily perceived way, shows through in this novel-which is the 4th book of the Quirke series. Beginning with the main protagonist "Quirke" , starting with the character's name, moving on to his occupation, and his dialogue and his image of himself, that sense of humor continues to reside in a light dusting throughout the personalities, the language, the places, and the physical being of the other characters. The plot does not hold center stage here--the people, and the places do. The plot is importantly there however, is believable, i effective and not fabricated, but who did it and how was it done frequently turns over the stage to who who is, and why and what who will do next , and why who did what was done in the first place. Make no mistake, however; the book has power, reward, suffering and pain, laid on with a most delicate hand.
    • 3/5
      Something about this novel was just . . . lacking. There were so many points of interest that Black could have picked up on, yet he seemed to leave them dangling as loose threads, never weaving them into any meaningful, complex tapestry. Take the setting of 1950s Ireland, for instance: yes, it's there, and we're not in 2011 anymore, but Black could have done so much more with setting and scene, made it so much more vibrant (or gloomy, as may be more appropriate) than it actually was. Some fashion details, classic cars, and the pervasive absence of cell phones do not a period setting make. True, this novel could not have existed without the ability for the wealthy and entitled to exert their power over basically everyone else, but I would have liked to have seen Black really take his milieu and run with it.Then there's the predictability. Mild spoilers here, but in this book 2 + 2 really does equal 4, and characters do behave in quite predictable ways. Even Phoebe-- who I have found unpredictable before-- seems rather dull and unexiciting here. Where you can expect to find anti-Semitism, you find it. Where you can expect to find Church corruption, you find it. If it doesn't look like a suicide, well, no fancy deduction needed: it isn't. If it has a whiff of sexual corruption, expect as much. Appears to be mentally unstable? Count on it. This really wasn't one for page-turning suspense and surprise conclusions.And is Black perhaps getting tired of this set of characters? As mentioned above, even quirky Phoebe seemed tiresome. There's a plot with her and Sinclair, but it fizzes into nothingness. One potentially interesting character from the last novel in the series appears to be written out. Quirke seems to be going through the motions, "playing" an alcoholic detective with a weakness for women stereotype (nothing wrong with that; I can appreciate that in a main character) rather than coming alive on the page as a distinctive example of one (now, that's a problem).I would have liked to see more of Quirke in his coroner, role, too; it may have been making him into too much of a private detective here that made a lot of the plot hang loosely on coincidencial encounters and "surprising" discoveries. Perhaps he was too far out of his element? I'm not positive what Black needed to do with this novel, but it needed another go-round and think-though at the outset before becoming a published work. It's ultimately disappointing and predictable, full of lost opportunities and humdrum cliches.
    • 4/5
      Richard Jewell, infamous newspaper magnate, has apparently shot himself. But Dr Quirke and Inspector Hackett, who are called out to the crime, begin to suspect that it is murder rather than suicide.Through several twists, turns and blind alleys they eventually work out who is responsible and why - and who are involved in other crimes along the way.This was a good story, with plenty of twists and turns and red herrings. Just when you think you know who did it, something else happens to make you think differently. It is not a who-done-it that you are sure from the beginning. I'm not sure it's "chilling" as the Sunday Telegraph apparently described it, so don't let that put you off.An all round good read.
    • 2/5
      Disappointing. As others have said, the plot and solution are very predictable. This was the first book in this series that I've read, but I don't think I'll read any of the others; I didn't find any of the characters, except for Inspector Hackett, very engaging. Perhaps if I'd read the series in order, I'd feel differently; throughout, I sensed that I was supposed to know (and care) more about Quirke than I did. That's always a danger when you pick up a series in the middle, but I do think that this outing seemed to depend a little much on the reader's prior experiences with the characters.
    • 4/5
      How is Quirke so easily seduced by every woman he meets? Ending in some way similar to the last book.
    • 4/5
      In the fourth of Benjamin Black's (aka John Banville) crime novels to feature pathologist Quirke, the people of Dublin are suffering through a stretch of scorching summer weather. Widely reviled newspaper owner Richard Jewell has been found dead in his home office, his head blown off by a shotgun blast. He’s holding the gun, which gives the death the trappings of suicide. But no one knows why he would kill himself. What’s more, the details of the scene don’t add up, so Quirke and Detective Inspector Hackett decide that the death must be treated as a homicide. Hackett takes charge, but Quirke, ever curious, cannot help but be drawn into the investigation, especially after encountering Jewell’s sultry widow, the imperturbable and enigmatic Françoise d’Aubigny. It turns out that Richard Jewell (known to his many detractors as “Diamond Dick”) was a ruthless businessman with shady connections and lots of enemies. The list of potential suspects is long and includes employees, business rivals and family members. In addition to Françoise, Richard’s troubled sister Dannie is also of interest to Hackett and Quirke, less as a suspect than as a source of information. In a bizarre coincidence, Dannie Jewell is a friend of David Sinclair, Quirke’s taciturn and socially awkward assistant in the path lab at the Hospital of the Holy Family. Quirke’s attempt to encourage friendship (possibly even romance) between David and his daughter Phoebe, situates Phoebe at the periphery of the case: through David, Phoebe meets Dannie and starts forming her own theories about Richard's death and the Jewell family. Quirke, back on the booze and at something of a loose end in his life, is seduced by a mystery that only grows more perplexing the deeper he digs, and by a widow who doesn’t seem to be grieving. The narrative shifts seamlessly among perspectives—mostly Quirke’s and Hackett’s. As the story progresses, Quirke time and again pokes his nose where it doesn’t belong, placing himself and others in danger but also exposing secrets that suggest an array of credible motives for murder. The story Banville has concocted moves at a leisurely pace, veers in unexpected directions, and is never less than enthralling. The writing throughout is elegant and dripping with atmosphere. Quirke is a man wracked by self doubt, alert to his many flaws and weak in the face of temptation—be it booze or women. A loner at heart, he does not trust easily, and yet craves companionship. Women find him attractive, but whenever he drops his guard he ends up in a compromising situation and wakes up the next morning hungover and burdened with regret. As a pathologist who deals in death and who’s seen it all, he is sensitive to the depths of depravity to which humanity can sink. But there are also times when he speaks and acts impulsively and imperils himself by downplaying the importance of his own observations. His fallibility and contradictory nature make him achingly human. The overall mood of the novel is sombre, and the book exhibits once again Banville’s unparalleled skill at individualizing characters and using setting to project states of mind. A Death in Summer is a dazzling addition to a stellar series, one that leaves us hungry for the next.
    • 4/5
      Having enjoyed Banville's forage into Chandler's World with a "new" Philip Marlow novel, "The Black-Eyed Blonde", I decided to give Banville's "Quirke" series a try. After all, it was obvious in The Black-Eyes Blonde, Banville was no slouch as a writer and, more evidence of this is that Banville was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1989 for "The Book of Evidence", won the Booker Prize in 2005 for "The Sea" and was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2013. Banville has at least a dozen or so other most-prestigious awards--and, it is rumored, he is on the short-list for a Nobel Prize in Literature. Even though Banville has labeled his crime fiction as "cheap fiction" , Banville's writing has been called perfectly crafted, beautiful, and dazzling. His skill shows up here in this pleasurable read of his "cheap fiction". The only book in the Quirke series in the Library at the time I went looking was "A Death in Summer" from 2011, by Banville's alter-ego Benjamin Black. I read it in three stayed-up-late sittings. The writing is magnificent and, as he is known-for a terrific sense of humor it, fortunately, in a subtle and not easily perceived way, shows through in this novel-which is the 4th book of the Quirke series. Beginning with the main protagonist "Quirke" , starting with the character's name, moving on to his occupation, and his dialogue and his image of himself, that sense of humor continues to reside in a light dusting throughout the personalities, the language, the places, and the physical being of the other characters. The plot does not hold center stage here--the people, and the places do. The plot is importantly there however, is believable, i effective and not fabricated, but who did it and how was it done frequently turns over the stage to who who is, and why and what who will do next , and why who did what was done in the first place. Make no mistake, however; the book has power, reward, suffering and pain, laid on with a most delicate hand.
    • 3/5
      This felt a bit less lyrical, and "thinner" in the story than previous ones. Still enjoyable, except for Dr Quirke's unaccountably charming way with the posh ladies...
    • 3/5
      With humidity as thick as molasses, an Irish heat wave threatens to bring Dublin to a slow crawl in this 1950s drama. Like Ireland itself, time moves slowly and this novel could have been written in a time dating from 1920s forward. Only references to concentration camps and the French resistance give us an accuracy to bring time forward.
      Like a take-off on Holmes and Watson, Inspector Hackett and his trusted partner, pathologist Dr. Quirke make an odd pair poking around in the affairs of dead newspaper owner, Richard ‘Diamond Dick’ Jewell. In a country still torn with prejudice after World War II the Irish seem surprised to find a Jewish conclave here in Dublin, one treated with respect unless they happen to get in the way. Jewell apparently got in someone’s way.
      Dropping clues like flies on a sticky summer day, Black allows us to see ahead of his investigators and we want to shout out warnings and have them discard the red-herrings. As the only so-human, flawed protagonist, Quirke, stumbles blindly ahead, only seeing the clues like a mole suddenly blinded by the bright sky after sticking his snout of a hole for the first time. Surely he can’t help but notice what he has been tripping over, especially when a bloody finger is attached to his front door in an envelope.
      Jewell’s death has so many possible suspects that it takes the entire book to whittle them down slowly, one at a time keeping you guessing until the very end. The plodding pace of the book helps evolve the storyline and makes this one worth hanging in there until the inevitable conclusion.
    • 4/5
      This is a detective story by Julian Barnes. A defter touch than most, more interested in character than most, but not too well plotted,
    • 3/5
      I picked up A Death in Summer because I had read The Black Eyed Blonde and really liked it. I will say up-front that Benjamin Black is a very good writer. But there were several times when I wanted to give up on this book. It moved so slowly that I wasn't sure that the murder was even being investigated, much less that it would ever be solved.There are many, many clues as to who the murderer is and the motive, but they are so buried amidst all the other slow moving stuff that one could fail to recognize them - or right off the bat you know and you wonder why it took the whole book to figure it out. When I started the book I was so impressed with Black's writing that I wanted to get the other ones in the series, but I think I will pass. Once was enough.
    • 5/5
      The continuing story of Quirke,a pathologist and Dubliner whose life is full of troubles inflicted by both himself and others. He becomes involved with the wife of a murder victim who draws him into a web of events from which he finds it difficult to extricate himself.The writing is excellent,both as far as the story is concerned and in the style itself.
    • 3/5
      The fourth installment in Black's Quirke series. This novel, like the previous ones, is set in post-World War 2 Dublin. Quirke is once again drawn into investigating a murder with Inspector Hackett. This time, a wealthy businessman's murder is made to look like suicide. I think this was my least favorite of the series so far, but I still enjoyed the book. I love the setting and the tone of these books. Black does noir so well. However, I did feel kind of here-we-go-again when some of the answers to the mystery were revealed.
    • 4/5
      It was a drowsy day in summer, a perfect day for a death:"When word got about that Richard Jewell had been found with the greater part of his head blown off and clutching a shotgun in his bloodless hands, few outside the family circle and few inside it, either, considered his demise a cause for sorrow."Thus begins A Death in Summer, the fourth novel of this series. As Richard "Diamond Dick" Jewell lays there in his own gore in his beautiful estate called Brooklands, Quirke and Hackett, the two "Connoisseurs of death," arrive on the scene. Jewell runs the Daily Clarion, Dublin's top-selling newspaper, and while the death looks like a suicide the press isn't going to run it as such, since suicides were never reported in the newspapers. Quirke, who had met Jewell some time earlier at a charity function, doesn't believe it's a suicide anyway. When talking to Françoise Jewell, Richard's widow, and his sister Denise (Dannie), he is stymied by their seeming lack of care and wonders "who are these two women really and what was going on here?" That's but one question on his mind as he and Hackett begin their investigation. They will once again mix in the Olympic realm of the moneyed classes who are very adept at hushing up any hint of scandal and quite skilled at keeping secrets, as the investigation takes Quirke back to Françoise (more than once) and to Jewell's business rival, Carlton Sumner. One of the leads will also take Quirke to the orphanage where he spent a short amount of time before being taken to an industrial school; although he's there to inquire after someone who may hold some information, he also wonders if he isn't there to "knead" some of his old wounds. But what he learns may just be the key to unlocking the whole sordid business.Aside from the portrait of the powerful in Dublin, Black also takes a look at the deep vein of anti-Semitism that flourishes there. Jews are another group of people who find alienation in the city; many of them won't use their real names and opt for one that is less ethnic. Even though the latest Lord Mayor, Briscoe, is Jewish, there are still a lot of people who are victims of prejudice; David Sinclair, Phoebe's new boyfriend, is one of them. There are several subplots that eventually come together at the end, and there are enough diversions to keep any mystery reader well occupied. While Black continues to amaze me here with his imagery and his gift for language, and especially with his characters, this book just takes forever to get anywhere. Normally I don't mind the slow pace in Black's novels, but this one sort of dragged in several spots. When the action picks back up again, however, it turns that out the slow interludes can be forgiven because of the most evil and haunting nature of the crime, which ultimately has Hackett making the proverbial deal with the devil to gain any sort of justice:"It's the times, Dr. Quirke, and the place. We haven't grown up yet, here on this tight little island. But we do what we can, you and I. That's all we can do."highly recommended -- as are all the novels in this series. They are simply superb.
    • 2/5
      After reading the first few chapters, I skipped to the last to see whether there was any point in continuing. There didn't seem to be. A Death in Summer strikes me as dull and formulaic in both plot and characters. The country-house murder of a ruthless, nouveau-riche tycoon; an exotic wife; the estranged family relationships; an investigator who reveals his own secrets as he uncovers the poisonous secret beneath the glitter that led to murder. One might say that this has been done to death.In future, I'll stick to John Banville, whose books I greatly enjoy.
    • 4/5
      Another solid read from Benjamin Black. After newspaper tycoon Richard Jewell commits suicide (so it seems), Quirke is called in to help out his friend Hackett. Once again, Quirke gets wrapped up in situations he shouldn't and straddles the lines between his career, personal life, and family. Another chapter in the great adventures of Dr. Quirke. Fun read as usual.
    • 4/5
      I've heard that most people who love the Benjamin Black novels don't enjoy the John Banville novels and vice versa. I've read both and in general, I agree. I vastly prefer Banville's mysteries and I think that the reasons are two-fold: Garret Quirke and the 1950's Dublin setting. Coupled, of course, with Banville's absolutely gorgeous prose. I've read all four Benjamin Black novels and while it would be difficult for me to choose a favorite, "A Death in Summer" reminded me of one my favorite mystery writers, Raymond Chandler. There was something in the pacing of the novel and the vulnerability of Quirke that reminded me of Philip Marlow in "The Big Sleep." The way the plot unfolded reflected the soporific heat of the Dublin summer. Quirke shares similarities with another one of my favorite detectives, John Lawton's Inspector Troy. Both Troy and Quirke are handsome, flawed, and prone to choosing the wrong women. Like Philip Marlowe. Can't wait to read about Quirke's next case.
    • 4/5
      This was my least favorite of the series. It seemed to retread old ground, and the mystery wasn't very interesting or hard to figure out. Not bad, but not up to the first three books, in my opinion.
    • 5/5
      Despite his endearing character imperfections, Quirke truly is an engaging and fascinating man easily capable of stealing your heart, even if only for 320 pages. He readily admits his self-indulgent life's missteps with earnest introspection. Garret Quirke steadfastly remains not only a prominent (not always in the best sense) pathologist, but also fittingly quite adept in discerning the villain, as Detective Inspector Hackett is unhesitatingly aware. Quirke's exceptionally notable and preeminently distinguished prominence with Dublin's privileged circles stems from dubious family connections well known if one is a follower of Quirke's previous adventures. When a lovely English summer day is unpleasantly disturbed by the grim discovery of the wealthy, notorious publisher Richard Jewell, aka Diamond Dick embracing a rifle in death, the immediate consensus suggests suicide. Of course, even a rank amateur could detect such an obvious fallacy. Meanwhile, the elegantly composed and lovely French widow Françoise seeks comfort with her husband's edgy half-sister Dannie in the drawing room sipping the Brits' requisite gin and tonic, any visible grief lies well submerged beneath the upper societal strata's strict protocol despite such a grisly event.Françoise, a fleeting past acquaintance who is shrewdly willing to exploit any means to deflect even the minutest suspicion upon her marvels at the fateful alignment with our precocious, yet often dispirited Quirke, who immediately stumbles into a reflective attraction for the ostensibly tangible suspect. Successful in her seductive attempts, Quirke's conflicted conscience reminds him that his continued dalliance jeopardizes his long-standing relationship. The subtle complexity of unanticipated actions hurls Quirke into a startling swirl of bewildering events which surprisingly involve not only his daughter Phoebe, but also his assistant Sinclair, who also is Dannie's confidante, a highly unstable woman. Most intriguing to me is Quirke's measured affective and philosophical evolution. Yes, he stumbles a bit along the way, but as the villain is suitably identified, Quirke definitely develops into a more emotionally stable, balanced and highly laudable character. At long last, John Banville's alter ego, Benjamin Black reveals Garret Quirke's immense possibilities.
    • 4/5
      Benjamin Black is a pen name for Booker Award-winning novelist John Banville. I enjoyed Banville's book The Sea and I have a special fondness for novels set in Ireland so I thought I would give this book a whirl.Newspaper magnate Richard Jewell was found dead in his home office apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. DI Hackett of the Irish police force (called the Guards in this book which is set in the 1950s but now called the Garda) investigates along with his friend, pathologist Quirke. Fairly quickly they establish that Jewell was murdered and then the hunt is on for the perpetrator. There are lots of possibilities as Jewell was not well liked. Jewell leaves behind his wife, Francoise, his daughter, Giselle, and his sister, Dannie. None of the women seem devastated by his death although Dannie calls in her friend David Sinclair who is Quirke's assistant to help her deal with the trauma. Francoise certainly seems quite cool and collected. Quirke gets to know Francoise quite well and his daughter, Phoebe, becomes friends with Dannie through David Sinclair. By the time the mystery is unwound relationships have been made and unmade. I suspected who the murderer was and the reason for the murder well before the end so this wasn't the most gripping whodunit for me. However, I was sufficiently intrigued by Quirke, Phoebe and David to keep reading. There were numerous references to Quirke's past that were not clear to me but maybe if I had read the preceding books they would be. I will be looking for those since I think this series has promise.
    • 3/5
      Good, as usual; but the story pattern of the Quirke novels is starting to become too apparent.
    • 4/5
      I just finished a who dunnit by an author new to me, Benjamin Black, the pen name of John Banville. The book is set in Dublin, Ireland where Richard Jewell, aka "Diamond Dick" a rich powerful newspaperman is found with his head blown off by a shotgun. Crusty old detective Hackett calls in his friend Quirke a medical examiner to help solve the crime. Quirke, who is well named by the way, quickly gets personally involved with Jewell's beautiful french wife, Francoise.Detective Hackett and Quirke are crusty old guys with a few nicks and scrapes. The writing is superb and the plotting tight. This was a great find and I recommend it highly. Get it at your local library, I did, save some bucks.
    • 4/5
      I enjoy Dr. Quirke and have read Benjamin Black's other Quirke novels. The character of Quirke is an interesting one, with all of the complexity, strengths, frailities and flaws one would expect of a human being. Benjamin Black presents a fine, intelligent, multi-layered story that makes one think. And that is commended.
    • 3/5
      While I've enjoyed the Benjamin Black novels featuring Irish pathologist Quirke, and this is a fine entry into the series, I would caution readers of mysteries that these are not "who done it?" style stories. On offer here is a more thoughtful character driven study, not a tale of deduction. A fine, well written book, just be aware of what you're getting.
    • 3/5
      In a word: bleak. Centers on the emotional -- and physical -- effects of a murder on the investigators who turn out to have personal connections to the victim and the victim's family and friends. This is the fourth book in a series set in Dublin but it can be read as a stand-alone mystery.
    • 5/5
      Another LT win. And another excellent addition to the Quirke series.Philanthropist Richard Jewell is shot--head blown clean off--and it looks like suicide. Except it's rather difficult to shoot oneself with a shotgun. And since Inspector Hackett is called to the scene and Quirke is the medical examiner on call, well, they walk right into trouble. Again.We finally get to meet Sinclair, Quirke's assistant, as more than a shadow in the corner. He becomes very real in this novel. And, as always, we get new interesting characters related to the victim. Some I'm sure will be back, though whether as a minor but important plot point, like Jimmy Minor, or more major, like Sinclair, is still to be seen.And Quirke. He's still mostly likeable, but still also a bastard in some ways, as he shuffles his way through figuring out the mystery, which, as always, is far nastier than it initially seems. The Dublin of the 1950s has an underbelly as dark as NYC or LA. And it makes for wonderful stories. I look forward to the next adventure Quirke has.
    • 4/5
      One of the pleasures for serious readers of mysteries is the continuation of a series over the years, a pleasure not available to the mainstream fiction reader. The detective, and sometimes other key characters, age over time and you have this wonderful sense of moving through life in tandem with a favorite character. Alexandria Alter, writing earlier this month in the Wall Street Journal, discusses this idea in an article titled “The Really Long Goodbye”. Kurt Wallander, John Rebus, J. P. Beaumont, Harry Bosch, Dave Robicheaux, Kinsey Millhone and Jack Reacher are just a few examples of sleuths who have advanced in years as the number of books in the series has mounted. Happily Benjamin Black (aka John Banville) is allowing his detective, Dr. Garret Quirke, to do the same.Set in 1950s Dublin, the addition of this 4th novel in the Quirke series, seems like more of a mystery than the others. The victim is identified immediately, newspaper tycoon Richard Jewell, and Quirke, a Dublin pathologist is brought into the case. There is an eerie foreshadowing of Rupert Murdoch here, as Jewell’s multifarious dealings and bizarre family connections are gradually revealed. Quirke is as complicated as ever, a loner of course, but for example in each book the relationship with his formerly estranged daughter deepens a little. It is this evolution of Quirke’s character that is one of the most appealing aspects of this series.It has been frequently noted in reviews that John Banville has found a second career writing as Benjamin Black. He has been quoted as saying that he prefers the Quirke novels to his award-winning progeny. As readers we are all the richer for these beautifully layered, elegantly written mysterious, with our friend Dr. Quirke at the center.
    • 4/5
      I have enjoyed every one of Benjamin Black's dark mystery novels set in 1950s Dublin, and A Death in Summer is no exception. The fourth book in the series featuring the pathologist Dr Quirke with his complicated and troubled life. This time, he is called in at the suicide of a rich and powerful man, only it's not suicide and nothing is clear or easy. Meanwhile, we learn more about Quirke's ambitious assistant. For the first two-thirds of the novel nothing seems to fit together or to be going anywhere. Plot lines lead to apparent dead ends in a meandering sort of way, but Black's writing is always so enjoyable I was willing to wander wherever he wanted to take me. Of course, in the final third of the book things get going, in churning, gut wrenching fashion, in which he pulls everything together at the last possible moment. Atmosphere is the star of this novel, with scenes described evocatively in very few words. I'd recommend beginning this series at the beginning, with Christine Falls, but if you've been following Quirke along his lugubrious way, you won't be disappointed with this one.
    • 3/5
      Something about this novel was just . . . lacking. There were so many points of interest that Black could have picked up on, yet he seemed to leave them dangling as loose threads, never weaving them into any meaningful, complex tapestry. Take the setting of 1950s Ireland, for instance: yes, it's there, and we're not in 2011 anymore, but Black could have done so much more with setting and scene, made it so much more vibrant (or gloomy, as may be more appropriate) than it actually was. Some fashion details, classic cars, and the pervasive absence of cell phones do not a period setting make. True, this novel could not have existed without the ability for the wealthy and entitled to exert their power over basically everyone else, but I would have liked to have seen Black really take his milieu and run with it.Then there's the predictability. Mild spoilers here, but in this book 2 + 2 really does equal 4, and characters do behave in quite predictable ways. Even Phoebe-- who I have found unpredictable before-- seems rather dull and unexiciting here. Where you can expect to find anti-Semitism, you find it. Where you can expect to find Church corruption, you find it. If it doesn't look like a suicide, well, no fancy deduction needed: it isn't. If it has a whiff of sexual corruption, expect as much. Appears to be mentally unstable? Count on it. This really wasn't one for page-turning suspense and surprise conclusions.And is Black perhaps getting tired of this set of characters? As mentioned above, even quirky Phoebe seemed tiresome. There's a plot with her and Sinclair, but it fizzes into nothingness. One potentially interesting character from the last novel in the series appears to be written out. Quirke seems to be going through the motions, "playing" an alcoholic detective with a weakness for women stereotype (nothing wrong with that; I can appreciate that in a main character) rather than coming alive on the page as a distinctive example of one (now, that's a problem).I would have liked to see more of Quirke in his coroner, role, too; it may have been making him into too much of a private detective here that made a lot of the plot hang loosely on coincidencial encounters and "surprising" discoveries. Perhaps he was too far out of his element? I'm not positive what Black needed to do with this novel, but it needed another go-round and think-though at the outset before becoming a published work. It's ultimately disappointing and predictable, full of lost opportunities and humdrum cliches.