Christine Falls — Benjamin Black

THE HERO OF CHRISTINE FALLS, QUIRKE, is a surly pathologist living in 1950s Dublin. One night, after having a few drinks at a party, he returns, to the morgue to find his brother-in-law tampering with the records on a young woman's corpse. The next morning, when his hangover has worn off, Quirke begins looking into the woman's history. He discovers a plot that spans two continents, implicates the Catholic Church, and may just involve members of his own family. He is warned -- first subtly, then with violence -- to lay off, but Quirke is a stubborn man. The first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of John Banville's writing to the dark, menacing atmosphere of a first-class thriller.