A review by nonna7
April in Spain by John Banville

5.0

This latest in the quirky Dr Quirke series harkens back to an earlier book about the death of Quirke's daughter's friend, April Lartimer. A body is never found but her brother confesses to her murder and then commits suicide. There is incest and darkness in the family and when the father of April and her brother also commits suicide it's good riddance as far as the rest of Dublin and the extended family is concerned. However it's a few years later. April had been a doctor and Quirke sees her - or isn't quite sure if he sees her - in a hospital in the town in which he and his new wife, a psychiatrist, are staying for a holiday. It's northern Spain, Basque Country, and his wife laughingly says he will feel more at home there because it rains more often. Quirke is feeling restless. Long enforced relaxation is not his thing. Then he sees the doctor who is identified as Dr. Angela Lawless. He calls his daugher, Phoebe, who first approaches April's uncle then a local police inspector who has worked with Quirke on cases in the past. Phoebe comes to Spain accompanied by Detective Stratford who had appeared in another novel. He is a Protestant and a somewhat enigmatic character. Evenlyn, Quirke's wife, thinks he and Phoebe are magnets presently turned on the wrong side. I guess we'll see. There is a hit man involved who Phoebe first sees in Dublin and notices his clothing doesn't quite fit. Then she sees him again in Spain and wonders. Banville wrote most of the Quirke novels under a pseudonym, Benjamin Black. However he has abandoned that conceit. His previous novel was about Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret as children. I enjoyed it but I'm glad to see another Quirke novel. This one has an unexpected ending. It should be interesting to see if Banville picks up where he left off.