A review by nonna7
Holy Orders, by Benjamin Black
5.0
This is the 7th Quirke book by Benjamin Black aka John Banfield, a very literary writer, not one who would be expected to write crime novels. As one reviewer wrote, these books are read less as crime novels than as literature. Because Black aka Banfield is a wonderful writer with incisive prose, haunting settings, the ability to paint a picture of the bleak, almost desolate place that was Dublin in the 1950's.
Quirke is a pathologist who has made friends - of sort - with Inspector Hackett who sometimes asks him to come along during an investigation or questioning. In this case, a young reporter, Jimmy Minor, who was a friend of Quirke's daughter, Phoebe, is found dead in the canal. His face had been beaten to a pulp before he died. Quirke is an odd and very interesting character - good looking, a drinker, something of a womanizer when he feels like it. (Although he doesn't like to wake up with the woman the next morning!) He is still developing a father/daughter relationship with Phoebe.
His wife died in childbirth, and he gave her to his brother and sister-in-law. The Catholic Church in Ireland is one of Quirke's pet peeves, yet he is unalterably marked by his past time in a home for orphans before he was adopted. There he was taught by the Christian Brothers with beatings and sexual abuse that stays with him. However, this is 1950. One just has to endure. Jimmy Minor's family show up to identify the body. His brother, who does the actual ID, is rather dismissive of Jimmy and his ambitions.
Then Jimmy's twin sister shows up and introduces herself to Phoebe in a rather strange way. Her family has disowned her. She lives in London and is also a writer. Hackett and Quirke go together to a tinker's camp (a general word that the Irish used for gypsies, at least at that time.) Hackett's men found the head of the clan's name in Jimmy's notes. There is also a letter from the head of the Trinitarians denying Jimmy an interview with a local priest. Quirke meets him. Soon it is obvious what's going on. Even so, the ending is stunning.
This is the best of the books yet. Black/Banfield gets better with every new Quirke. Hopefully, he's already working on the next.
Quirke is a pathologist who has made friends - of sort - with Inspector Hackett who sometimes asks him to come along during an investigation or questioning. In this case, a young reporter, Jimmy Minor, who was a friend of Quirke's daughter, Phoebe, is found dead in the canal. His face had been beaten to a pulp before he died. Quirke is an odd and very interesting character - good looking, a drinker, something of a womanizer when he feels like it. (Although he doesn't like to wake up with the woman the next morning!) He is still developing a father/daughter relationship with Phoebe.
His wife died in childbirth, and he gave her to his brother and sister-in-law. The Catholic Church in Ireland is one of Quirke's pet peeves, yet he is unalterably marked by his past time in a home for orphans before he was adopted. There he was taught by the Christian Brothers with beatings and sexual abuse that stays with him. However, this is 1950. One just has to endure. Jimmy Minor's family show up to identify the body. His brother, who does the actual ID, is rather dismissive of Jimmy and his ambitions.
Then Jimmy's twin sister shows up and introduces herself to Phoebe in a rather strange way. Her family has disowned her. She lives in London and is also a writer. Hackett and Quirke go together to a tinker's camp (a general word that the Irish used for gypsies, at least at that time.) Hackett's men found the head of the clan's name in Jimmy's notes. There is also a letter from the head of the Trinitarians denying Jimmy an interview with a local priest. Quirke meets him. Soon it is obvious what's going on. Even so, the ending is stunning.
This is the best of the books yet. Black/Banfield gets better with every new Quirke. Hopefully, he's already working on the next.