I liked Black's 'Black eyed blonde' a lot, so I thought I would check out his other works. This one was a disappointment. It is clear Black (or I should say, John Banville) has a lot of talent but he badly bungles this 'thriller'. Notoriously wealthy Dublin tycoon Richard 'Diamond Dick' Jewell is found dead with a shotgun in his farmhouse, and our hero Dr. Quirke the inadvertent detective (he is a pathologist by trade) is drawn into the mess along with his sidekick, Inspector Hackett. Set in 1950's Dublin, this book makes (or at least attempt to make) powerful commentary on contemporary Irish society and its complicated relationship with the Catholic Church. Alas Black gets so caught up in trying to make this a stylish noir that he fails at maintaining enough tension and suspense, an absolute necessity in a murder mystery. We are treated to a whole gamut of stereotypes: the elegant Frenchwoman, the crazy spoiled rich girl, the damaged daughter, the brooding alcoholic protagonist. Nobody in the book really seems to care or mind that a man (however dubious his reputation might have been) has been murdered, and even our protagonist Quirke merrily goes about attending elaborate lunches soirees without fretting too much about the urgent case at hand. The characters are dull and listless, the plot glacial, and the conclusion all too abrupt. 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.
What do You think about Death In Summer (2011)?
Beautiful writing, but not as engrossing as his first 3 featuring Dr. Quirk.
—jen
I never know who dunnit! Good read. My first Quirke novel
—DaniTommo
