Elegy for April
A Novel

Elegy for April is the third in the series of eight books (so far) featuring the pathologist Quirke, and I liked it better than the last book. Many straight-up mystery readers are not in love with Black’s series in that it is “too literary,” which I take it to mean it focuses more on place, descript......more

Years ago I read "Christine Falls," an intriguing rather gothish, noir mystery by an author (pen) named Benjamin Black. It was good enough to have remained RAM-ready for recall in the intervening years, whereas, say, when I (re)purchased the book "Crimson Petal and The White" it was not until page 4......more

Many of the very best mysteries are profoundly political. In digging deeply into what makes their characters tick, the writers locate the roots of their class origins and the wounds inflicted on them by their families, their neighbors, and society at large. Not convinced? Think about the sociology un......more

for a single glance at the first four novels in the Quirke series, click on through to where I post my online crime fiction reviews. We start moving into deeper, blacker territory here with Elegy for April, a trend that continues through the two novels following this one. This book also happens to......more

I wondered after I read this novel, which while atmospherically lovely, was somewhat lacking in character development, if it assumed previous knowledge of the protagonist, Quirke, a middle-aged pathologist/alcoholic in 50s Dublin, trying to dry out, but failing, and sometimes failing miserably. He a......more