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 The Quirke Mystery Series by Benjamin Black (aka John Banville)
Character's Personality: I only read the first book, and didn't get real feel for Quirke's personality except that he seemed disagreeable, sarcastic, and manipulative.
Character's Occupation: Coroner
Character's Culture / Ethnicity: Irish
Character - Other Notable Traits: Alcoholic widower
Location and Time Period: 1950s Dublin, Ireland
Mystery Subgenre: Historical, British (Irish)
Objectionable Material: Some profanity and mild violence
Series Description: (brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) To be honest, I wasn't terribly thrilled with Christine Falls, and hence felt unmotivated to continue with the series. The characters are relentlessly negative: either spiteful and manipulative, or depressingly victimized. The writing, of course, is beautiful, which should come as no surprise since Benjamin Black is a pseudonym for John Banville who won the Booker Prize for The Sea. Christine Falls is a dark and slow-moving mystery, but it does do a good job capturing the smug, oppressive provincialism that must have been Dublin in the 1950s.
Series List: Purple date = I've read it. Title links go to Amazon.com product pages.
- Christine Falls
 (2006) Coroner Quirke receives the body of Christine a young woman who supposedly died of heart trouble according to his hated brother Mal, an obstetrician. But Quirke finds that she really died in childbirth. Who is the father of Christine's baby? Why are people stealing babies? The answer to the first question is, unfortunately, fairly obvious. The answer to the second question is more convoluted and leads Quirke on a journey of discovery through the tangled branches of his own family tree and its connection with the Catholic Church. I didn't really care for this slow-moving mystery, but many others have enjoyed it.
- The Silver Swan
 (2007)
- The Lemur
 (2008)
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