John Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. He is the author of seventeen novels, including The Book of Evidence, The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize, and the Quirke Series of crime novels under the pen name Benjamin Black. Other major prizes he has won include the Franz Kafka Prize, the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature, and the Prince of Asturias Award. He lives in Dublin.
Superb . . . This is crime fiction for the connoisseur.
The Times
Stylish. engrossing. a deft, penetrating study of the elaborate rituals of class and religion in post-war Ireland. Banville has taken a classic crime construct and produced a subtle, incisive novel that is superb to the last drop.
Independent
Engrossing and written in scalpel-like prose, it's an exquisite piece of literature with a crime at its heart.
Daily Mail
Banville's Booker-winning literary sensibilities make the most of Ireland's wintry countryside . . . a portrait of a country that for decades refused to look at what was hiding in plain view.
Metro
'A typically elegant country house mystery.'
Guardian (Biggest books of autumn 2020)
A well-crafted story, peopled by superbly well-drawn characters, and put together in the finest prose. Having written several of the greatest novels of all time to come out of Ireland, one comes to Banville's latest work knowing that in all likelihood it too will shine like a well-polished gem. Not unexpectedly the prose is to relish and admire. And the book is shaped and honed in a masterly fashion.
Irish Independent
[A] deceptively complex mystery with literary flourishes.[A] brilliant mix of old tropes and sadly modern evil.
Booklist
What prompted the author to dispense with his pseudonym on this occasion is unimportant; what matters is his intelligent and captivating thriller which keeps the reader hooked until the final sting in the tale . . . This novel has complexity and heft. With luck it is no stand-alone case for Strafford but the first of many.
Herald Scotland
A beautifully executed, nostalgia-churning throwback that directs the occasional wink at the reader.
Shelf Awareness
An unsettling period country house murder mystery, peopled with slightly off-kilter characters
and where the snobbery comes with a religious twist. Compelling.