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Quirke #4
A Death in Summer
Barcelona. 23 cm. 285 p. Encuadernación en tapa dura de editorial con sobrecubierta. Black, Benjamin 1945-. Traducción de Nuria Barros. Título A death in summer. Barrios, Nuria. 1962-. traductor .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 9788467261400
308 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2011
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5202 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Black
33 books677 followersPen name for John Banville
Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.
Educated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. Banville has described this as "A great mistake. I should have gone. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. But I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to be free." After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. He lived in the United States during 1968 and 1969. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.
After the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He left. Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.
Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black. His first novel under this pen name was Christine Falls, which was followed by The Silver Swan in 2007. Banville has two adult sons with his wife, the American textile artist Janet Dunham. They met during his visit to San Francisco in 1968 where she was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Dunham described him during the writing process as being like "a murderer who's just come back from a particularly bloody killing". Banville has two daughters from his relationship with Patricia Quinn, former head of the Arts Council of Ireland.
Banville has a strong interest in vivisection and animal rights, and is often featured in Irish media speaking out against vivisection in Irish university research.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benjam...
Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland. His father worked in a garage and died when Banville was in his early thirties; his mother was a housewife. He is the youngest of three siblings; his older brother Vincent is also a novelist and has written under the name Vincent Lawrence as well as his own. His sister Vonnie Banville-Evans has written both a children's novel and a reminiscence of growing up in Wexford.
Educated at a Christian Brothers' school and at St Peter's College in Wexford. Despite having intended to be a painter and an architect he did not attend university. Banville has described this as "A great mistake. I should have gone. I regret not taking that four years of getting drunk and falling in love. But I wanted to get away from my family. I wanted to be free." After school he worked as a clerk at Aer Lingus which allowed him to travel at deeply-discounted rates. He took advantage of this to travel in Greece and Italy. He lived in the United States during 1968 and 1969. On his return to Ireland he became a sub-editor at the Irish Press, rising eventually to the position of chief sub-editor. His first book, Long Lankin, was published in 1970.
After the Irish Press collapsed in 1995, he became a sub-editor at the Irish Times. He was appointed literary editor in 1998. The Irish Times, too, suffered severe financial problems, and Banville was offered the choice of taking a redundancy package or working as a features department sub-editor. He left. Banville has been a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1990. In 1984, he was elected to Aosdána, but resigned in 2001, so that some other artist might be allowed to receive the cnuas.
Banville also writes under the pen name Benjamin Black. His first novel under this pen name was Christine Falls, which was followed by The Silver Swan in 2007. Banville has two adult sons with his wife, the American textile artist Janet Dunham. They met during his visit to San Francisco in 1968 where she was a student at the University of California, Berkeley. Dunham described him during the writing process as being like "a murderer who's just come back from a particularly bloody killing". Banville has two daughters from his relationship with Patricia Quinn, former head of the Arts Council of Ireland.
Banville has a strong interest in vivisection and animal rights, and is often featured in Irish media speaking out against vivisection in Irish university research.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benjam...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 356 reviews
July 30, 2025
3.5 stars rounded up for book 4 in the Quirke series. Although you can read this as a stand alone, you will better understand the relationships between Quirke and the various characters if you read the books in order.
I enjoy this series for the richly descriptive prose describing Ireland in the 1950s. This book explores a dark side of Ireland , i.e. the treatment of orphans. Quirke is called to the scene of an apparent suicide, because he is the medial examiner on call. Quirke's friend Detective Inspector Hackett is in charge of the investigation. Together, they do solve the case. Quirke is threatened by a man who has threatened him before. But Quirke does not give up. He makes some bad decisions affecting his personal life along the way.
One quote on Hackett thinking: "The summer weather that was a torment in town made the countryside a pleasure. Sitting beside young Jenkins as they drove out of the city and along the upper reaches of the Liffey on the way to Kildare, Hackett admired the dense greenness of the trees lining the roads, and, behind them, the squared fields where wheat and barley moved slowly, constantly, in polished waves."
If you want to start with book 1, it is Christine Falls My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was a library book.
Update July 30, 2025, my wife read this book and said that the book became draggy in the middle. She said 3.5 stars, so I have adjusted my rating. Folks who read my reviews sometimes get the benefit of a second opinion. My wife doesn't write reviews, but I incorporate her opinions into mine.
I enjoy this series for the richly descriptive prose describing Ireland in the 1950s. This book explores a dark side of Ireland , i.e. the treatment of orphans. Quirke is called to the scene of an apparent suicide, because he is the medial examiner on call. Quirke's friend Detective Inspector Hackett is in charge of the investigation. Together, they do solve the case. Quirke is threatened by a man who has threatened him before. But Quirke does not give up. He makes some bad decisions affecting his personal life along the way.
One quote on Hackett thinking: "The summer weather that was a torment in town made the countryside a pleasure. Sitting beside young Jenkins as they drove out of the city and along the upper reaches of the Liffey on the way to Kildare, Hackett admired the dense greenness of the trees lining the roads, and, behind them, the squared fields where wheat and barley moved slowly, constantly, in polished waves."
If you want to start with book 1, it is Christine Falls My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was a library book.
Update July 30, 2025, my wife read this book and said that the book became draggy in the middle. She said 3.5 stars, so I have adjusted my rating. Folks who read my reviews sometimes get the benefit of a second opinion. My wife doesn't write reviews, but I incorporate her opinions into mine.
July 26, 2022
A Death in Summer, the fourth entry in Benjamin Black’s Dr. Quirke mystery series, sounds almost like the title of a title of a sixties French film I might have seen in the seventies--atmospheric, vaguely romantic/existentialist, noir, and it’s set in an unusually hot (sultry) summer with noirishly sultry women. (No, the men are not sultry in this books, or steamy, but the women sleep with what is available). The book opens with newspaper tycoon Richard "Diamond Dick" Jewell (an almost comically apt noir name for a philandering rich guy that many people would love to see dead) actually very dead, his head (sorry) basically blown off by a shotgun blast, the gun in his hands. Suicide is the initial call, but we have a whole book to figure out if this is in fact the case. Jewell's wife, Francoise, is French, and is said to call to mind for Quirke Ilse of Ingrid Bergman fame, in Casablanca.
Compared to earlier books in this series, this has a different tone, inspired in part by forties romantic thrillers, referencing both books and films, with some lively somewhat comic--whiihc is to say somewhat improbable--plot intrigue. Character study (the morose, alcoholic Dr. Quirke) and setting (1950’s Dublin) are typically central in Black books, with a critique of the sexual politics of the Catholic church and society of the time, but unlike most noir thrillers (though the violent Manchette comes to mind as one exception; maybe he has those thrillers in mind) the opening has --by far--the most explicitly described and bloodiest murder in the series.
So Quirke, who has recently told the actress (and his daughter Phoebe’s friend) Isabella that he wants her to “save” him, of course falls “in love” with Francoise, the bastard, though you know, Ingrid Bergman look-alike. . . but no, Dave, wrong! And on the very day Francoise’s own (quite estranged) husband is found dead?! I still like the flawed sad sack Quirke; yes, as in nearly all noir books women sleep with him, but its not for any obvious physical reasons. And it's not for his sense of humor, that's for sure. Call it the charm of ennui? No? Well, get out of line, there seems to be many women still in it.
Quirke’s daughter, Phoebe, and his assistant in pathology, David Sinclair, become engaged in the case in certain ways, and also find themselves also inexplicably drawn together (yes, in bed). Two somewhat improbable and possibly ill-advised romantic relationships but ya know, 1) it’s summer, 2) it’s steamy, and 3) it’s noir with that French watercolor wash.
In the last book racism was a theme, and in this one anti-semitism turns up, as both Sinclair and Jew(ell) (oh, yes, he meant to do that, Black did) are Jewish, and brutal acts come to them both. There’s another (bad guy) business partner, Canadian bully Sumner, and his violent son, so there are many suspects. The Catholic Church and an orphanage where adults “adopt” children for “house work” are involved. Black (the pseudonym for novelist John Banville) has an axe to grind with the Church, in every one of these novels, so he's both entertaining and angry.
I liked it very much, especially because I like Quirke and his daughter Phoebe, as flawed and troubled as they both are with bad life choices, Quirke with alcoholism and infidelity. These are what might be characterized as more “literary” mysteries (Banville won the Booker for The Sea), so I especially like them.
PS: I like Inspector Hackett, the dull but smart Inspector Holmes to Quirke's Dr. Watson (different people refer to them in this way), though there's a reason he names Quirke as central to the series, but they are both great characters and a great team.
Compared to earlier books in this series, this has a different tone, inspired in part by forties romantic thrillers, referencing both books and films, with some lively somewhat comic--whiihc is to say somewhat improbable--plot intrigue. Character study (the morose, alcoholic Dr. Quirke) and setting (1950’s Dublin) are typically central in Black books, with a critique of the sexual politics of the Catholic church and society of the time, but unlike most noir thrillers (though the violent Manchette comes to mind as one exception; maybe he has those thrillers in mind) the opening has --by far--the most explicitly described and bloodiest murder in the series.
So Quirke, who has recently told the actress (and his daughter Phoebe’s friend) Isabella that he wants her to “save” him, of course falls “in love” with Francoise, the bastard, though you know, Ingrid Bergman look-alike. . . but no, Dave, wrong! And on the very day Francoise’s own (quite estranged) husband is found dead?! I still like the flawed sad sack Quirke; yes, as in nearly all noir books women sleep with him, but its not for any obvious physical reasons. And it's not for his sense of humor, that's for sure. Call it the charm of ennui? No? Well, get out of line, there seems to be many women still in it.
Quirke’s daughter, Phoebe, and his assistant in pathology, David Sinclair, become engaged in the case in certain ways, and also find themselves also inexplicably drawn together (yes, in bed). Two somewhat improbable and possibly ill-advised romantic relationships but ya know, 1) it’s summer, 2) it’s steamy, and 3) it’s noir with that French watercolor wash.
In the last book racism was a theme, and in this one anti-semitism turns up, as both Sinclair and Jew(ell) (oh, yes, he meant to do that, Black did) are Jewish, and brutal acts come to them both. There’s another (bad guy) business partner, Canadian bully Sumner, and his violent son, so there are many suspects. The Catholic Church and an orphanage where adults “adopt” children for “house work” are involved. Black (the pseudonym for novelist John Banville) has an axe to grind with the Church, in every one of these novels, so he's both entertaining and angry.
I liked it very much, especially because I like Quirke and his daughter Phoebe, as flawed and troubled as they both are with bad life choices, Quirke with alcoholism and infidelity. These are what might be characterized as more “literary” mysteries (Banville won the Booker for The Sea), so I especially like them.
PS: I like Inspector Hackett, the dull but smart Inspector Holmes to Quirke's Dr. Watson (different people refer to them in this way), though there's a reason he names Quirke as central to the series, but they are both great characters and a great team.
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June 13, 2017Benjamin Black is the name under which John Banville has chosen to write a series of detective stories, of which this is the fifth. The stories all feature a likeable duo called Hackett and Quirke, a police detective and a pathologist respectively, and are set in 1950's Dublin, a time and place John Banville knows well.
I read the second in the series a couple of years ago, and was impressed enough to plan to go back and read the first before moving on to the later ones as there are backstory elements that develop from book to book.
However, I found myself in an airport bookshop recently and as usual, anticipated buying several books to take home with me. To my great disappointment, the shop had nothing that I wanted to buy, something that has never happened to me in my entire life. The shelves either contained books I had already read or books I would never want to read. I walked back and forth like a crazy person, wringing my hands and worrying about not getting to the gate on time. How could I walk out of the bookshop without buying anything? The thought was unbearable. Where I live, there is only one small English language bookshop, so you can understand my dilemma. And I desperately needed something to read on the plane. Finally I spotted this book, stuck in an out of the way corner, and although I would have preferred not to read it until I had read the earlier ones, I had to buy it. I had no choice.
Quirke and Hackett are also faced with a tricky dilemma when they are called out to the scene of a gruesome death but they have choices, and they succeed in extracting themselves from danger while maintaining their dignity.
I had more difficulty.
I read the second in the series a couple of years ago, and was impressed enough to plan to go back and read the first before moving on to the later ones as there are backstory elements that develop from book to book.
However, I found myself in an airport bookshop recently and as usual, anticipated buying several books to take home with me. To my great disappointment, the shop had nothing that I wanted to buy, something that has never happened to me in my entire life. The shelves either contained books I had already read or books I would never want to read. I walked back and forth like a crazy person, wringing my hands and worrying about not getting to the gate on time. How could I walk out of the bookshop without buying anything? The thought was unbearable. Where I live, there is only one small English language bookshop, so you can understand my dilemma. And I desperately needed something to read on the plane. Finally I spotted this book, stuck in an out of the way corner, and although I would have preferred not to read it until I had read the earlier ones, I had to buy it. I had no choice.
Quirke and Hackett are also faced with a tricky dilemma when they are called out to the scene of a gruesome death but they have choices, and they succeed in extracting themselves from danger while maintaining their dignity.
I had more difficulty.
February 17, 2019
A Death in Summer is book four in the Quirke series by Benjamin Black. One Sunday afternoon Inspector Hackett received a called that changed his plans for the day. On arrival at the crime scene, Inspector Hackett gain the information that the state pathologist is sick, and they are sending Doctor Quirke. When Doctor Quirke arrived, he realised he knows the victim's wife and his life and his daughter will change. The readers of A Death in Summer will follow Inspector Hackett and Doct Quirke to see what happens.
A Death in Summer is the first book I have read of Benjamin Black, and I love it. The reason I enjoyed reading A Death in Summer is that one of the main characters is a doctor and the state pathologist. I also was surprised by the twist that Benjamin Black put in at the end of A Death in Summer. I like Benjamin Black portrayal of his characters and the way they intertwine with each other throughout the book. A Death in Summer is well written and researched by Benjamin Black.
The readers of A Death in Summer will learn about how sex offenders can live in our communities without anyone know they are there. Also, the readers of A Death in Summer will understand the role between the pathologist and law enforcement officers.
I recommend this book.
A Death in Summer is the first book I have read of Benjamin Black, and I love it. The reason I enjoyed reading A Death in Summer is that one of the main characters is a doctor and the state pathologist. I also was surprised by the twist that Benjamin Black put in at the end of A Death in Summer. I like Benjamin Black portrayal of his characters and the way they intertwine with each other throughout the book. A Death in Summer is well written and researched by Benjamin Black.
The readers of A Death in Summer will learn about how sex offenders can live in our communities without anyone know they are there. Also, the readers of A Death in Summer will understand the role between the pathologist and law enforcement officers.
I recommend this book.
July 26, 2012
If you haven't read the three books prior to this one, click here to find out what you've missed.
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.
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.
November 5, 2022
Wonderfully written. A joy to read how Banville (Black is his pseudonym) describes places, athmosphere and people and their emotions. It’s not a quick paced novel. But I enjoyed it.
A murder! Dublin in 1950. And as usual Quirke gets involved: “The itch to find things out would only be eased by being scratched, yet there was a part of him that would rather put up with the irritation than take on the burden of knowing other people’s sordid secrets.”
In the opening pages we find Detective Inspector Hackett realizing, when studying the dead body, that what he craves these days is solitude. So we have two reluctant sleuths, who try to solve this mystery.
Further on we get to know Quirke’s assistant, Sinclair, in a quite unexpected manner. It gives the story a wonderful depth. We also get to know him better.
As usual in these Quirke novels, it’s more a character study than a procedural. Sure the murder gets solved, sort of, but the main focus is on the people involved.
Also it’s societal critical. Ireland in the fifties is not an open society. Much sordid affairs are covered up: ”troubles not surmounted but absorbed” And that quote sums up the conclusion of this book perfectly.
A murder! Dublin in 1950. And as usual Quirke gets involved: “The itch to find things out would only be eased by being scratched, yet there was a part of him that would rather put up with the irritation than take on the burden of knowing other people’s sordid secrets.”
In the opening pages we find Detective Inspector Hackett realizing, when studying the dead body, that what he craves these days is solitude. So we have two reluctant sleuths, who try to solve this mystery.
Further on we get to know Quirke’s assistant, Sinclair, in a quite unexpected manner. It gives the story a wonderful depth. We also get to know him better.
As usual in these Quirke novels, it’s more a character study than a procedural. Sure the murder gets solved, sort of, but the main focus is on the people involved.
Also it’s societal critical. Ireland in the fifties is not an open society. Much sordid affairs are covered up: ”troubles not surmounted but absorbed” And that quote sums up the conclusion of this book perfectly.
August 6, 2024
Love how Banville uses parallel characters to deepen both characters. Lots of contrast and subtle differentiation. Quirke is a flawed hero, but he is definitely an interesting one. The Quirke novels feel a bit like detective work on the past sins and crimes done to the Irish (mostly) lower classes by Church, state, schools, and class system. We've definitely seen that approach with TV shows like Peaky Blinders. The characters all seem a bit traumatized by their past and welded together by their shared burden/past.
September 6, 2012
It is summer in Dublin, 1956, and it is hot, very hot - a very unusual summer for a country accustomed to cool green and a fair amount of rain. Quirk, the morose Dublin pathologist, is in the midst of a love affair with Isabel, a local actress and friend of his daughter, Phoebe. He is called in to view the body of Richard Jewell, a wealthy businessman because the coroner is ill. At first glance it seems as if Jewell committed suicide.(A warning here: the scene is described rather graphically. I can actually still picture it as I write this.) However, it soon becomes painfully obvious that it is not. Jewell's exotic French wife claims to have been out and returned to find him dead. Everyone else around him denies even hearing the shot. Quirke asks Mrs. Jewell (Francoise) a few questions, is invited to her home for a "memorial drink," and, before long, is having an affair with the widow. However, that doesn't stop him from asking questions. At the same time, he brings his assistant, David Sinclair, whom we learn is Jewish, together with his daughter. Richard Jewell is also Jewish. He was also in conflict with another wealthy businessman. At the same time we learn that Jewell and Teddy Sumner, the son of the rival businessman, have been part of a group called "The Friends of St Christopher," a benevolent organization that provides charity to a local boys' orphanage. As always, we see the dark underbelly of Irish society including the clergy. As the book unfolded, I began to understand little by little what was going on, but the end still was something of a surprise. However, unlike other mystery writers, this book is read more for the pleasure of the unraveling story, characters and writing, than to solve the mystery.
January 4, 2016
This is a consciously "literary" crime novel. How you respond to it will depend upon whether you like the sort of heightened language employed by Benjamin Black (the Man Booker winner John Banville writing under a well-publicised pseudonym). I do like it and so I did enjoy the book, although I thought it had its flaws.
To illustrate the style of the book, Banville describes a buffet table which has "at its centre, a mighty salmon, succulently, indecently pink, arranged on a silver salver..." Or as another example, "The priest was studying him closely again, running ghostly fingers over the Braille of Quirke's soul." I found all this atmospheric and evocative - which is just as well, because there is a lot of atmosphere and character and a great deal of Fine Writing but, frankly, not all that much plot. What plot there is, is a bit thin and covers very well-trodden ground - child abuse, the wealthy believing they can behave as they wish and so on - and it flagged pretty badly in places. However it serves well enough as a vehicle for conveying the author's character analyses and sense of the mores of 1950s Ireland, which seems to me to be the real point of this book
I thought Inspector Hackett (only a relatively minor character, sadly) a wonderful creation, and there is one prolonged interview scene conducted by him which is utterly compelling and quite brilliantly done, I thought. Although less engaging, Black's other characters seem very real and well-drawn to me and I thought he made some penetrating observations about the way people think and behave.
In short, this is not really a whodunit sort of crime novel, but it is a very well written, thoughtful book and an enjoyable, intelligent read.
To illustrate the style of the book, Banville describes a buffet table which has "at its centre, a mighty salmon, succulently, indecently pink, arranged on a silver salver..." Or as another example, "The priest was studying him closely again, running ghostly fingers over the Braille of Quirke's soul." I found all this atmospheric and evocative - which is just as well, because there is a lot of atmosphere and character and a great deal of Fine Writing but, frankly, not all that much plot. What plot there is, is a bit thin and covers very well-trodden ground - child abuse, the wealthy believing they can behave as they wish and so on - and it flagged pretty badly in places. However it serves well enough as a vehicle for conveying the author's character analyses and sense of the mores of 1950s Ireland, which seems to me to be the real point of this book
I thought Inspector Hackett (only a relatively minor character, sadly) a wonderful creation, and there is one prolonged interview scene conducted by him which is utterly compelling and quite brilliantly done, I thought. Although less engaging, Black's other characters seem very real and well-drawn to me and I thought he made some penetrating observations about the way people think and behave.
In short, this is not really a whodunit sort of crime novel, but it is a very well written, thoughtful book and an enjoyable, intelligent read.
August 16, 2020
Rereading via audio, I did not remember I'd read this before. I rated it lower this time. A rich guy is found dead. Quirke challenges the police ruling of suicide and eventually finds the killer.
July 30, 2011
Nothing says Summer like a good murder story. Maybe it’s the cold-bloodedness of it all that helps to beat the heat; perhaps it’s simply that sweat is easier to endure when it’s shared with someone who’s sweating death. Whatever it is, there are few things more refreshing when the temperature rises than witnessing somebody fall.
When you make that a few somebodies, well, even Miami’s steamy, sultry dog days can become almost pleasant, unless of course you’re on the receiving end of a shotgun, a garrote or a fatal plunge. That’s why I spent an entire weekend immersed in murder. And it’s also why I wholeheartedly recommend you do likewise.
Begin, if you will, in Dublin, scene of the crime in Benjamin Black’s steam-deemed A Death in Summer (Henry Holt $25). Black, as you probably know, is the darker alias of the Booker Prized novelist John Banville, whose Quirke stories (of which this is the fourth) apparently give the scribe some relief from all that high-mindedness for which he is so esteemed. Not that the low lifes he brings to tale here are below par, mind you. But there is a definitive shadiness to the proceedings, a shadiness that’ll cool even the most hot-headed.
It sure as hell cools Richard Jewell, who’s lost his whole head to a shotgun. Quirke, the meddling pathologist who never fails to warm to cold-blooded murder, knows at once the newspaper magnate couldn’t possibly have swallowed both barrels all by himself. So he gets hot on the proverbial case. That everybody and their mother has a motive to off the large-living Diamond Dick only compounds Quirke’s cool calculating. That some very bad characters insist he cease and desist makes him even more determined. In cahoots with his old friend Detective Inspector Hackett, Quirke follows his nose wherever it goes, even – and especially – when it risks even more mayhem.
Like Black’s previous outings, A Death paints Dublin with both charm and menace, and it casts Quirke in an almost Holmesian light. Reading it beneath a hot sun as the temperature approaches triple digits is kinda like the literary equivalent of an eclipse. How many writers do you know who are compelling enough to completely block out the solar system’s brightest star even for one dog day afternoon?
From:
Bound: Dead, Dead and More Dead
Murder Can Be a Perfect Cure
SunPost Weekly July 7, 2011 | John Hood
http://bit.ly/nouiuD
When you make that a few somebodies, well, even Miami’s steamy, sultry dog days can become almost pleasant, unless of course you’re on the receiving end of a shotgun, a garrote or a fatal plunge. That’s why I spent an entire weekend immersed in murder. And it’s also why I wholeheartedly recommend you do likewise.
Begin, if you will, in Dublin, scene of the crime in Benjamin Black’s steam-deemed A Death in Summer (Henry Holt $25). Black, as you probably know, is the darker alias of the Booker Prized novelist John Banville, whose Quirke stories (of which this is the fourth) apparently give the scribe some relief from all that high-mindedness for which he is so esteemed. Not that the low lifes he brings to tale here are below par, mind you. But there is a definitive shadiness to the proceedings, a shadiness that’ll cool even the most hot-headed.
It sure as hell cools Richard Jewell, who’s lost his whole head to a shotgun. Quirke, the meddling pathologist who never fails to warm to cold-blooded murder, knows at once the newspaper magnate couldn’t possibly have swallowed both barrels all by himself. So he gets hot on the proverbial case. That everybody and their mother has a motive to off the large-living Diamond Dick only compounds Quirke’s cool calculating. That some very bad characters insist he cease and desist makes him even more determined. In cahoots with his old friend Detective Inspector Hackett, Quirke follows his nose wherever it goes, even – and especially – when it risks even more mayhem.
Like Black’s previous outings, A Death paints Dublin with both charm and menace, and it casts Quirke in an almost Holmesian light. Reading it beneath a hot sun as the temperature approaches triple digits is kinda like the literary equivalent of an eclipse. How many writers do you know who are compelling enough to completely block out the solar system’s brightest star even for one dog day afternoon?
From:
Bound: Dead, Dead and More Dead
Murder Can Be a Perfect Cure
SunPost Weekly July 7, 2011 | John Hood
http://bit.ly/nouiuD
September 11, 2016
Quirke, Dublin's pathologist is called in to investigate the supposed murder of one of the cities most infamous 'rich folk' named Jewell. With a history of violence and a secret intrenched in the vile goings on at St. Christopher's home for boys with certain vulnerabilities, orphans, the unwanted, troublesome, from overburdened families, petty thieves, victims of incest, etc.
both the victim of this most recent crime and his closest enemy named Sumner, seemed to have a lurid interest in St. Christopher's. This secret along with so many others is the tangled ball of yarn that Quirke and his pal Detective Hackett ( not the brightest bulb in the box) must untangle. Quirke's assistant is threatened and maimed for his attempt to help.
Is Quirke's interest in St. Christopher's too personal, having spent time there as a child, or has his relationship to the dead mans wife clouded his judgement, since time spent between the sheets with this French beauty may have had a tendency to soften his opinion as well? What about her daughter, she's such an odd little thing, what has effected her so deeply?
Has Quirke waded in too deep in the drink this time, or can he pull himself out in time to make sense of it all and riddle out who killed Jewell?
both the victim of this most recent crime and his closest enemy named Sumner, seemed to have a lurid interest in St. Christopher's. This secret along with so many others is the tangled ball of yarn that Quirke and his pal Detective Hackett ( not the brightest bulb in the box) must untangle. Quirke's assistant is threatened and maimed for his attempt to help.
Is Quirke's interest in St. Christopher's too personal, having spent time there as a child, or has his relationship to the dead mans wife clouded his judgement, since time spent between the sheets with this French beauty may have had a tendency to soften his opinion as well? What about her daughter, she's such an odd little thing, what has effected her so deeply?
Has Quirke waded in too deep in the drink this time, or can he pull himself out in time to make sense of it all and riddle out who killed Jewell?
May 24, 2015
PROTAGONIST: Doctor Quirke, pathologist, and DI Hackett
SETTING: Dublin
SERIES: #4 of 6
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Newspaper tycoon Richard "Diamond Dick" Jewell is found in his study with his head blown off. At first, it is labeled a suicide; however, pathologist Dr. Quirke soon concludes it is murder. He finds himself involved in the investigation, sometimes working with DI Hackett. Things get complicated when Quirke falls in love with the widow, an enigmatic French woman. At the same time, someone is warning him, even resorting to injuring his assistant, Sinclair. There is a plethora of disturbed and/or eccentric characters who are generally not very developed, and the plot is not especially engrossing.
SETTING: Dublin
SERIES: #4 of 6
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Newspaper tycoon Richard "Diamond Dick" Jewell is found in his study with his head blown off. At first, it is labeled a suicide; however, pathologist Dr. Quirke soon concludes it is murder. He finds himself involved in the investigation, sometimes working with DI Hackett. Things get complicated when Quirke falls in love with the widow, an enigmatic French woman. At the same time, someone is warning him, even resorting to injuring his assistant, Sinclair. There is a plethora of disturbed and/or eccentric characters who are generally not very developed, and the plot is not especially engrossing.
July 29, 2016
Another great Quirke story. Unlike other mystery novels it doesn't matter if you figure out part what's going on as there'll be always be something that you didn't figure on and the writing itself is still always the joy with these books. Looking forward to my next Benjamin Black read!
February 4, 2013
The best way I can describe this story is sigh and say lame.
January 5, 2019
prima vera lettura del 2019 e l'anno non sarebbe potuto iniziare meglio. Trama gialla, tematiche delicate e scabrose, scrittura che avvince, insinuandosi in una narrazione che contiene di tutto, dalla poesia allo splatter, e che eleva quest'opera alla dignita' di un vero e bellissimo romanzo.
Leggo che John Banville (che per tutti tranne che per l'editore italiano in questa serie scrive sotto pseudonimo) e' da anni nella rosa dei candidati al Nobel per la letteratura, per cui faccio ammenda per la mia ignoranza e mi auguro che possa vincerlo, giusto per potermi dire d'accordo con la commissione, almeno una volta :)
quattro e mezzo, le stelline
Leggo che John Banville (che per tutti tranne che per l'editore italiano in questa serie scrive sotto pseudonimo) e' da anni nella rosa dei candidati al Nobel per la letteratura, per cui faccio ammenda per la mia ignoranza e mi auguro che possa vincerlo, giusto per potermi dire d'accordo con la commissione, almeno una volta :)
quattro e mezzo, le stelline
July 15, 2016
3.5/5
El género policial, ya desde sus inicios, ha sido constantemente considerado un género menor. Que era sólo para entretener, que no iba más allá de eso; de hecho, se podía comprar por apenas unos pocos centavos y, por ende, se convertía en accesible para casi todo el mundo. Sin embargo, con libros, y más específicamente prosas como las de Black/Banville ese prejuicio sobre el género policíaco empieza a resquebrajarse.
Muerte en verano no es, estrictamente una novela policial. ¿Por qué? Simplemente, porque lo que respecta al crimen en sí está, a pesar de ser el eje principal, rodeado por otros muchos temas que lo complementan. Si bien me interesó la forma en la que está escrita la novela y cómo en muchos casos el caso pasa a un segundo plano, considero que casi la totalidad del libro está sumida en un tono medio, sin subidas ni bajadas. Es decir que lo que antecede a la resolución del caso está flotando en un mar tranquilo, sin olas ni viento. A ver, no es que no pasara absolutamente nada, pero las revelaciones y confesiones que aparecen no son tan impresionantes, o no cómo yo me las esperaba. Digamos que, todo ese tramo es apenas la entrada, cuando el plato fuerte viene bien al final; ahí sí, hay descubrimientos muy interesantes, escalofriantes, sí, pero interesantes, que sin lugar a dudas valen por todo el libro.
Habiendo experimentado con Black en La rubia de ojos negros puedo decir con mucho convencimiento que me gusta mucho su prosa. Es estilizada, elegante. Describe muy bien, incorpora diálogos muy interesantes y, lo que más me gusta es que, a pesar de lo que expliqué antes, tiene ese algo que te mantiene encerrado en las páginas, que te entretiene y te hace pensar de un personaje o de otro. Y ya que hablamos de los personajes, todos tienen una personalidad tan bien desarrollada que los convierte en personas, no en meros nombres escritos en papel. Lo que quizás me sorprendió más es que no fue el protagonista, el doctor Quirke, el que más me interesó, sino los otros personajes que van apareciendo y que, a diferencia del doctor, no se repiten a lo largo de las demás novelas de la serie (o eso es lo que creo).
En conclusión, Muerte en verano es una novela que en un principio tiene una clara etiqueta que dice "policial" pero que, con el correr de las páginas y el desarrollo de la historia, nos vamos dando cuenta de que ese término es solo puntapié inicial para luego ir mostrando una novela que se ramifica y da lugar a otros temas que no tienen que ver tanto con lo estrictamente policial.
El género policial, ya desde sus inicios, ha sido constantemente considerado un género menor. Que era sólo para entretener, que no iba más allá de eso; de hecho, se podía comprar por apenas unos pocos centavos y, por ende, se convertía en accesible para casi todo el mundo. Sin embargo, con libros, y más específicamente prosas como las de Black/Banville ese prejuicio sobre el género policíaco empieza a resquebrajarse.
Muerte en verano no es, estrictamente una novela policial. ¿Por qué? Simplemente, porque lo que respecta al crimen en sí está, a pesar de ser el eje principal, rodeado por otros muchos temas que lo complementan. Si bien me interesó la forma en la que está escrita la novela y cómo en muchos casos el caso pasa a un segundo plano, considero que casi la totalidad del libro está sumida en un tono medio, sin subidas ni bajadas. Es decir que lo que antecede a la resolución del caso está flotando en un mar tranquilo, sin olas ni viento. A ver, no es que no pasara absolutamente nada, pero las revelaciones y confesiones que aparecen no son tan impresionantes, o no cómo yo me las esperaba. Digamos que, todo ese tramo es apenas la entrada, cuando el plato fuerte viene bien al final; ahí sí, hay descubrimientos muy interesantes, escalofriantes, sí, pero interesantes, que sin lugar a dudas valen por todo el libro.
Habiendo experimentado con Black en La rubia de ojos negros puedo decir con mucho convencimiento que me gusta mucho su prosa. Es estilizada, elegante. Describe muy bien, incorpora diálogos muy interesantes y, lo que más me gusta es que, a pesar de lo que expliqué antes, tiene ese algo que te mantiene encerrado en las páginas, que te entretiene y te hace pensar de un personaje o de otro. Y ya que hablamos de los personajes, todos tienen una personalidad tan bien desarrollada que los convierte en personas, no en meros nombres escritos en papel. Lo que quizás me sorprendió más es que no fue el protagonista, el doctor Quirke, el que más me interesó, sino los otros personajes que van apareciendo y que, a diferencia del doctor, no se repiten a lo largo de las demás novelas de la serie (o eso es lo que creo).
En conclusión, Muerte en verano es una novela que en un principio tiene una clara etiqueta que dice "policial" pero que, con el correr de las páginas y el desarrollo de la historia, nos vamos dando cuenta de que ese término es solo puntapié inicial para luego ir mostrando una novela que se ramifica y da lugar a otros temas que no tienen que ver tanto con lo estrictamente policial.
April 6, 2017
Here is Quirke, a middle-aged Dublin pathologist in 1956, contemplating the beautiful French widow he has fallen for, hard:
“They had made no plan to meet again, he and Francoise, but it did not matter, he knew they would meet again, that the fates would arrange it. The fates would arrange everything; there was nothing he need do but wait. And all the time, while that young Lothario gamboled in the meadows of his fancy, plucking nosegays and ecstatically calling out his beloved’s name, in another, unenchanted part of his mind, the old dog he really was shuddered in dismay at the thought of the violent and bloody circumstance that had led him to this love.”
I don’t know about you, but I find it difficult to resist writing like this, especially when I encounter it in a murder mystery. The mystery genre abounds with what used to be called “workmanlike” prose before the feminist revolution; perhaps it’s just “serviceable” now. But Benjamin Black, pseudonym of the Booker Award-winning novelist John Banville, who reportedly writes mysteries for fun and profit, can’t seem to help himself. A Death in Summer, and the five other novels in his series about Quirke, the consulting pathologist in the Dublin city morgue and an amateur sleuth, all feature crisp, evocative prose as well as sharply drawn characters.
The “death in summer” that gives this tale its title is the shotgun beheading of a ruthless Dublin businessman who leaves behind a French widow, a sister, and enough enemies to populate an Agatha Christie whodunit. However, despite a plethora of suspects, Quirke and Hackett, his collaborator in the Garda (the Dublin police), focus on those closest to the deceased. As the investigation unfolds, Quirke dives deeply into the complex relations within the victim’s family becomes romantically involved with the widow. Quirke’s daughter, Phebe, and his assistant in the morgue, David Sinclair, become peripherally engaged in the case and find themselves drawn together. Eventually, as seems to be the case in all the Quirke novels, the Catholic Church turns up in a pivotal role, and one that’s none too pleasant. Benjamin Black, it would seem, is either a bitter fallen Catholic or a Protestant with a big chip on his shoulder.
I’ve reviewed four of the five other Quirke novels: Christine Falls, The Silver Swan, Elegy for April, and Holy Orders.
“They had made no plan to meet again, he and Francoise, but it did not matter, he knew they would meet again, that the fates would arrange it. The fates would arrange everything; there was nothing he need do but wait. And all the time, while that young Lothario gamboled in the meadows of his fancy, plucking nosegays and ecstatically calling out his beloved’s name, in another, unenchanted part of his mind, the old dog he really was shuddered in dismay at the thought of the violent and bloody circumstance that had led him to this love.”
I don’t know about you, but I find it difficult to resist writing like this, especially when I encounter it in a murder mystery. The mystery genre abounds with what used to be called “workmanlike” prose before the feminist revolution; perhaps it’s just “serviceable” now. But Benjamin Black, pseudonym of the Booker Award-winning novelist John Banville, who reportedly writes mysteries for fun and profit, can’t seem to help himself. A Death in Summer, and the five other novels in his series about Quirke, the consulting pathologist in the Dublin city morgue and an amateur sleuth, all feature crisp, evocative prose as well as sharply drawn characters.
The “death in summer” that gives this tale its title is the shotgun beheading of a ruthless Dublin businessman who leaves behind a French widow, a sister, and enough enemies to populate an Agatha Christie whodunit. However, despite a plethora of suspects, Quirke and Hackett, his collaborator in the Garda (the Dublin police), focus on those closest to the deceased. As the investigation unfolds, Quirke dives deeply into the complex relations within the victim’s family becomes romantically involved with the widow. Quirke’s daughter, Phebe, and his assistant in the morgue, David Sinclair, become peripherally engaged in the case and find themselves drawn together. Eventually, as seems to be the case in all the Quirke novels, the Catholic Church turns up in a pivotal role, and one that’s none too pleasant. Benjamin Black, it would seem, is either a bitter fallen Catholic or a Protestant with a big chip on his shoulder.
I’ve reviewed four of the five other Quirke novels: Christine Falls, The Silver Swan, Elegy for April, and Holy Orders.
June 1, 2016
Entertaining, easy read. Not a suspenseful, clue-filled mystery. More of an examination of relationships to the victim, motives, and the occasional additional crime and lie thrown in for good measure. You may figure out who did it - but you could be wrong.
My first B Black novel. I enjoyed getting a good story without profanity. I'll try another for sure.
My first B Black novel. I enjoyed getting a good story without profanity. I'll try another for sure.
August 20, 2015
What a waste of time. I wasn't interested by the characters, the plot is ridiculous, the ending bland. I waited almost 4 years to read Benjamin Black and the result is a meager star out of five. The problem that I now face is that I'm hesitating to try Banville!
October 8, 2016
A holiday read that didn't absorb....Black/Banville ran out of space or steam at the end and attempted to tie up everything very quickly while leaving unfinished stories for his next Quirke adventure. Annoying incorrect facts - pink tulips in a vase during hay-making?!
Want to read
February 8, 2019Synopsis: newspaper tycoon Richard Jewell is discovered with his head blown off. DI Hackett calls Quirke who has access to Dublin's elite.
September 20, 2021
Me gustó mucho, he comenzado a pensar que la novela negra es uno de mis géneros favoritos.
Novela elegante en la que el doctor Quirke intenta resolver un homicidio que inicialmente se disfraza de suicidio. Algunos personajes me perturbaron un poco como la niña Gisselle, Dannie y Teddy. El autor escribe de una manera tan brillante, que sin necesidad de mencionarlo, al final queda claro porqué estos tres personajes son como son.
Disfruté muchísimo el desarrollo de la historia y de cada personaje para ir formando poco a poco el puzzle que nos lleva a la verdad al rededor de Richard Jewel. El final es de esos tajantes que en menos de 10 páginas te cuenta todo, me hubiera gustado saborear poco a poco todos los detalles. En general, lo disfruté mucho, no quise soltarlo en cuatro días hasta terminarlo.
Novela elegante en la que el doctor Quirke intenta resolver un homicidio que inicialmente se disfraza de suicidio. Algunos personajes me perturbaron un poco como la niña Gisselle, Dannie y Teddy. El autor escribe de una manera tan brillante, que sin necesidad de mencionarlo, al final queda claro porqué estos tres personajes son como son.
Disfruté muchísimo el desarrollo de la historia y de cada personaje para ir formando poco a poco el puzzle que nos lleva a la verdad al rededor de Richard Jewel. El final es de esos tajantes que en menos de 10 páginas te cuenta todo, me hubiera gustado saborear poco a poco todos los detalles. En general, lo disfruté mucho, no quise soltarlo en cuatro días hasta terminarlo.
July 3, 2020
Benjamin Black is the pseudonym of John Banville and the name he uses to write his mystery novels. I read Christine Falls many years ago and was impressed with it as I have been with this book. Dr. Quirke is a many layered character and then add his daughter, Phoebe, Hackett, the Detective Inspector and Dublin. This is a winning combination. I might also add that the writing, the word choice and the plot are all to be admired.
August 8, 2018
Each Quirke novel is better than the last, it seems. Or maybe I just love the most recent one because it is fresh in my mind. Today as I finished this one, Hemingway came to mind. I don't know if it had to do with the subject matter, the era, the voice or the writing. It's been ages since I read him. I do love this writer and intend to read every single one of these Quirke books as I adore this character. After which I shall read everything else by Benjamin Black and John Banville.
November 22, 2017
Interesting characters, easy page turner.
December 15, 2018
Somehow the Quirke books make sin very unappealing. I have to wonder if Dublin in 1950 could have been the hateful gossiping old biddy of a town this series portrays, but I'll bet it was. Great characters drawn with just enough detail to keep me wanting more. More please.
May 16, 2020
One of the Dr Quirke series that I missed first time around. Well written and enjoyable like all of them.
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