A Death in Summer
By (Author) Benjamin Black
Pan Macmillan
Picador
7th June 2012
7th June 2012
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
823.914
Short-listed for Bord Gis Energy Irish Book of the Year 2011 (UK)
Paperback
336
Width 132mm, Height 197mm, Spine 21mm
232g
When newspaper magnate Richard Jewell is found dead at his country estate, clutching a shotgun in his lifeless hands, few see his demise as cause for sorrow. But before long Doctor Quirke and Inspector Hackett realise that, rather than the suspected suicide, Diamond Dick has in fact been murdered. Jewell had made many enemies over the years and suspicion soon falls on one of his biggest rivals. But as Quirke and his assistant Sinclair get to know Jewell's beautiful, enigmatic wife Francoise d'Aubigny, and his fragile sister Dannie, as well as those who work for the family, it gradually becomes clear that all is not as it seems. As Quirke's investigations return him to the notorious orphanage of St Christopher's, where he once resided, events begin to take a much darker turn. Quirke finds himself reunited with an old enemy and Sinclair receives sinister threats. But what have the shadowy benefactors of St Christopher's to do with it all Against the backdrop of 1950's Dublin, Benjamin Black conjures another atmospheric, beguiling mystery.
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, most recently the Man Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin. Also available from Benjamin Black: Christine Falls, The Silver Swan, Elegy for April