Quirke is a pathologist in 1950s Dublin. Life is fairly unremarkable for him until he comes into his lab one evening after a going-away party for a nurse at the hospital and finds his "brother" (they were raised by the same man, Judge Griffin, but only Mal was his child by birth) writing in a file. This is odd because Mal Griffin is an obstetrician, not a pathologist and has no reason to be in the basement lab. When Quirke later checks the file, he finds it is for a woman by the name of Christine Falls, whose corpse he is unaware of. When he does locate Christine, he finds he cannot let the mystery of her death go and ends up uncovering secrets that come straight back to his own family.

Benjamin Black is the pen name of John Banville. As Black, he seems intrigued by the secrets bound up in family ties (as in The Lemur). This was a very well-written book and a damn good noir mystery. ( )

Quirke, a Dublin pathologist who drinks more than he should after the death of his wife two decades earlier, finds his brother-in-law tampering with a file in the morgue. The file belongs to a young woman named Christine Falls who lies dead in the next room. Unable to shake the unsettling feeling that his brother-in-law and nemesis Mal is hiding something sinister, Quirke begins a search for the answer behind Christine’s death. What unfolds is a novel of dark secrets which is tautly written and full of suspense.

Christine Falls is set first in 1950s Ireland, but ends in Boston. Quirke is a compelling protagonist, although not one who is immediately likable. He drinks excessively, pursues his sister-in-law romantically, and seems to have made more than a few enemies over the years. Despite his faults, however, Quirke is a man who wants to right the wrongs and he continues to investigate the death of Christine even when it becomes apparent his own life may be in danger.

Benjamin Black is the pen name for John Banville whose literary novels have won numerous awards. In this noir thriller, Banville weaves a tight story of intrigue that had me turning the pages long after I should have been in bed asleep. Christine Falls is a mystery which could easily fit in the literary genre with its strong character development and haunting descriptions. This whodunit has another, deeper layer - that of family secrets which span decades and implicate the Catholic Church. As Banville weaves his story, the reader is steadily drawn into the characters’ relationships.

Readers who enjoy literary fiction as well as a gripping mystery, will be drawn to Christine Falls. I expected to like this novel, and I was not disappointed.

Highly Recommended. ( )

Christine Falls isn’t the best mystery I’ve ever read but it’s a well-crafted piece of historical fiction. While Dublin pathologist, Quirk, searches for an explanation for the death of Christine Falls and the disappearance of her baby, we’re completely drawn into the dark sinister underworld of 1950s Boston and Dublin, Ireland. Benjamin Black’s tale of hypocrisy and cruelness by powerful Irish Catholic families is the backdrop for Quirk’s own discoveries surrounding his own adoption and his past. This is a very well written gritty tale despite the weakness of the central mystery, the death of Christine Falls. ( )

Literary novelist dips his toe into Mystery waters. An Irish pathologist in the 1950s discovers his sort-of-brother tampering with the file of one of his corpses (Christine Falls) and cannot rest until he finds out why, thereby uncovering family secrets and bringing the demons of past loves ot the forefront, etc. Beautifully written, interesting characters, multilayered and ironic. I enjoyed how the perspective shifted from character to character, who seem only tangentially connected at first. Banville writes lovely descriptions, the kind that stick in your head, sort of like Dickens. It's quite a bleak book, but rewarding.
Why: it first came to my attention probably a year ago when I was supposed to receive an ER copy, which never showed up, so when I saw it on the bargain shelf recently, I swooped it up. I love literary mysteries. ( )

Benjamin Black (John Banville) does not really flout many mystery conventions in Christine Falls, but he does write a good solid novel that meets all my criteria for an enjoyable mystery. The story begins when the main character, Quirke, a pathologist in 1950s Dublin, discovers Malachy, his adopted brother (and brother-in-law—the two men married sisters), falsifying the record of the death of a young woman named Christine Falls. Before long, it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want Quirke asking questions about this young woman. There’s a murder, an attack, and many complications, some of which are connected Quirke’s personal life, which involves some heavy drinking and his not-entirely-dead love for Malachy’s wife, Sarah.

A parallel thread involves a newborn infant named Christine who is brought to Boston by a nurse from Quirke’s hospital and is given to a young Irish-Catholic couple, not for adoption but for them to raise with the advice of the orphanage that made the arrangements. The wife, Claire, falls in love with the baby immediately, but her oh-so-virile husband Andy resents the intrusion. The results are not good.

Because of these parallel stories, readers are actually ahead of Quirke for much of the book. To some extent, this reduces the number of suprising revelations along the way, but at least there’s no withholding of key information so the detective can reveal his cleverness at the end. The tension that builds during the novel is more psychological than physical, and only rarely do the main characters appear to be in physical danger. Still, psychological danger is in a way even scarier—and the impact more troubling.

The plot does hinge on coincidence more than I might like, but it’s not a major problem, and the way it all ties together makes sense. Even though Quirke’s investigation unearths some shady practices among people who are running various Catholic charities, Black doesn’t fall into the tiresome trap of treating the whole church as corrupt. Most of the loose ends in the mystery get tied up, and the characters are left with plenty of opportunties for growth in future novels. I look forward to reading the next Quirke novel, The Silver Swan, to see what happens to them next.

See my complete review at my blog. ( )