(Drivebycuriosity) - I like crime mysteries with an atmospheric literary style. So I enjoyed the Quirke series by Benjamin Black, a pseudonym for award crowned Irish author John Banville.
The novels are mostly set in Ireland in the 1950s. Quirke, a pathologist, who works in a morgue, is a twisted and very curious man who develops interest in cases
which are not really his business. When he believes that something is
not right he starts a personal investigation, whatever it may cost him. The series has more standard characters, including Quirke`s daughter Penelope, who is as twisted & complicated as her father.
Book 8 of the series, named "April in Spain", is published under the real author´s name Banville ( amazon). This change signals a significant change of the concept. "April" is not a mystery anymore, instead it is a kind of Greek drama, where actions start a chain of events, leading to a tragedy. The law of unintended sinister consequences.
Quirke makes holidays in San Sebastian together with his new wife, an Austrian psychologist. By chance Quirke spots a young woman, Irish by her accent, who seems to be familiar to him - and being Quirke he gets curious.......... (this is a spoiler free blog).
I am no fan of Greek tragedies and I dislike like some of the characters and their behavior, which is stupid, irresponsible and worse. But I still enjoyed Banville´s elaborate style and his descriptions of situations & places, which create a dark atmosphere.
But anyway, the author wrote much better books. My favorites are "Snow" (my review ), "Wolf on a String" ( review) and "Christine Falls", the start of the Quirke series ( review).
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