Cover image of "The Drowned," the new Quirke novel

John Banville has captivated English literary critics for decades. He has garnered the Booker Prize as well as many of the top literary awards on the Continent and is considered a contender for the Nobel Prize. Yet mystery fans know him as the pseudonymous author of the Quirke novels set in 1950s Dublin, where Banville lives. But the man’s literary chops are obvious in every one of the books in the series. He wrote the first seven under the name Benjamin Black but relented with the last three. They’ve all appeared as Banville’s own work. As he told an interviewer: “He appreciates his work as Black as a craft, while as Banville he is an artist.” But he appears unable to write a bad sentence. Artistry aside, each of the books is a suspenseful and clever mystery story. The new Quirke novel, The Drowned, is a prime example.

Inspector Strafford takes the lead

In the early books, Quirke—Dublin’s lead pathologist—collaborated with Chief Inspector Hackett. Now, in The Drowned, Hackett is visibly aging and ill. He’s on the verge of retirement. In the more recent novels, Quirke has been working on investigations with Inspector St. John (pronounced “SINjun”) Strafford, an Englishman with his family’s roots in Britain’s colonization of Ireland. Of course, that heritage frequently alienates and angers those he meets, especially in rural areas. And the story here unfolds far outside a village on the isolated and rugged eastern coast of the island. But it’s Strafford himself who does the heavy lifting here. He only manages to drag a reluctant Quirke into offering up opinions about the case from time to time.

The Drowned (Quirke #10) by John Banville 303 pages ★★★★☆

Photo of a contemporary scene like those in this new Quirke novel like those set in the 1950s
A rural home on Ireland’s rugged east coast, restored as it looked in the 1950s when the Kirk novels were set. Much of the action in this book took place in settings like this Image: Rick Steves Europe

About that case

The case is challenging. A man named Denton Wymes (pronounced “Weems”) who lives nearby on the coast with his dog comes across an expensive automobile stopped in a field with its lights on and the driver’s door open. There is no sign of the driver. Suddenly, a man named Ronnie Armitage comes running up shouting that his wife is missing. He fears she’s fallen on the rocks below the cliff nearby. Or maybe she just ran off. The two trek up the hill to a nearby home to use the phone to call the Garda.

Why is the husband acting so strangely?

Once there, Armitage’s behavior proves to be strange. A well-to-do couple named Ruddock is renting the place. But, once there, Artmitage doesn’t use the phone. It’s Charles Ruddock’s wife, Charlotte, who makes the call. Armitage has proceeded to get stumbling drunk with Ruddock. And there is something strange about how they relate to each other. It’s as though they know each other but show no signs of recognition. And into this puzzling scene, finally, the local Garda comes. Thomas Crowley is an old drunkard who has been passed from post to post for incompetence. He is obviously incapable of digging out the truth of what happened. It’s inevitable, then, that help will have to come from Dublin. Enter St. John Strafford.

The elements of the case

So, did Armitage’s wife die on the rocks below? Or did she wander off? Did Armitage murder her? Or did Denton Weems, who wandered up to the car, commit the murder? There is reason in his past to suspect so. And what’s that about the strange relationship, or the appearance of one, between Armirage and Ruddock? These are some of the elements of the case confronting Inspector Strafford and, at times, Dr. Quirke. It will prove to be even more tangled than it appeared at first.

The great strengths in Banville’s writings lie in his ability to paint an evocative picture of each scene, conjuring up an appropriate mood. In the care he devotes to character development. In the artful way he weaves each subplot, and there are several here, into the story. And in his ability to maneuver through the complexities of his characters’ lives and paint a convincing portrait of each with so few words. These are all complex, three-dimensional human beings, requiring true skill to convey who they are on the printed page. Banville is truly a consummate writer. It’s easy to see why he wins all those awards.

About the author

Photo of John Banville, author of this new Quirke novel
John Banville. Image: Britannica

The acclaimed Irish writer John Banville has been a darling of the English critics and the judges of the Booker Awards for many years. (His first novel appeared in 1971.) He is the author of 20 novels published under his own name (including now three of the Quirke titles) and seven other novels in the Quirke series under his pen name, Benjamin Black, as well as four standalone novels under that name. Banville has also written six plays and five screenplays.

Banville was born in Ireland in 1945 and now lives in Dublin. He is the father of four children from two marriages.

You’ll find reviews of the first nine of the Quirke novels at The Quirke series of Dublin crime novels from Benjamin Black.

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