I've been catching up with Benjamin Black aka John Banville. This is the third in his series featuring Quirke, a brilliant, dark pathologist who fights alcoholism - mostly unsuccessfully - and is trying to be a father to his daughter - pretty much also mostly unsuccessfully. The novel opens with Quirke finishing up a stint at a grim clinic run by the Christian Brothers. He's dried out - at least temporarily - but the need for a drink is never far away. It is the depths of winter in Dublin. On Christmas Eve of the previous year, he took a taxi and signed himself into the clinic after a series of deadly drinking bouts in which he has forgotten things that have happened. The series takes place in 1950's Dublin. It is the post war period, and Ireland is just climbing out of bad economic times. Mostly though it is winter - not the sparkling, snow filled winter of film, but the normal winter of that part of the world: thick fog and long, cold, hard, unrelenting rain. His daughter, Phoebe, makes regular visits. She is dreading this one, but it is important for her to go because she needs to talk to him about a missing friend. She is a part of a group of oddly disparate friends: Phoebe herself works at an upscale hat shop, Patrick is a surgical resident who is black and on a temporary visa from his home country in Africa, Jimmy, diminutive and quick, is a newspaper reporter, Isabelle is an actress who is "half Irish and half English" as she explains and April is also a resident doctor who may or may not been having an affair with Patrick, something both forbidden and daring in 1950's Dublin. Now April is missing, and Phoebe comes to her father looking for help. She is sure something terrible has happened to April. We soon learn that something did happen, but it takes a while for the solution to unfold. I always think of these books as akin to watching a film of a flower slowly unfold petal by petal. "Fathers and sons...fathers and daughters," one of the characters lament. This book explores the complexity of family ties. Quirke's daughter thought of herself as his niece for many years, until she learned the truth. Quirke himself came from a poor family background and was adopted by a wealthy family. He is never allowed to forget that, and his background is the cause of sneers by both those below him and those above him in society. These books are not for someone looking for action or romance. They're not an easy read. However, the language is enough to keep me coming back for more, and the language truly is wonderful. When he describes the sparkle of the mica used on the streets, I can see it sparkling and cold on a moonlit night. When he describes a character walking on a "sharp" winter's night, you can see the stars in your mind. As in the other books, nothing is what it seems and the ending is both tragic and somewhat ambiguous. Once again the reader sees the thread of anti-clericalism that seems to be a basic part of the fabric of Irish literary life. This is a book worth reading, but be prepared for the darkness within and around.

I received Elegy for April in a free give away. The cover instantly interested me, the summary grabbed my attention. Sadly, the hype didn't carry through to the end of the novel. You have your stereotypical middle aged, heavy smoking, alcoholic washed up detective who solves impossible crimes while attracting young, beautiful women. The rest of the characters are just as two dimensional and stock board. April, the character in question is as much of a mystery to the reader as she is to her friends. By the end of the book I struggled to care for a character who was more of an after thought in the grand scheme of things. I really wished this story was more about the father daughter relationship.

Setting was okay. You really got the noir feeling. At the same time the constant descriptions of smoking and whiskey glasses, pubs and restaurants and rain...It just never ends. I really wish the author had put this much effort into character development and plot. I won't lie and say that the writing is bad, it is actually well written. The issue lies in the fact that it carries a formulated plot and character feel and the settings and descriptions are on repeat throughout the story.

Not a bad read, just not the best.

Phoebe's best friend April has gone missing. She enlists her father Quirke to help find her.

This is the third in a series of novels about Quirke. He is a pathologist with a drinking problem who often finds himself in bad situations. Crime noir set in 1950s Dublin.

Read this despite being lukewarm about the series. Interesting enough mystery, went by fast. A decent read I will forget and probably never recommend to anyone.

Maybe starting with the fourth book in this series isn't recommended because it felt more like a character drama than s mystery. The mystery was not even very interesting and never developed over time with different suspects etc. Won't read any others.

Everyone is awful. Some are irreparable drunks. The atmosphere is truly Dickensian.

I didn't realize before starting this book that it is actually third in a series. Clearly, throughout the book, there were references to the other novels that I just wan't "getting." However, I enjoyed this one enough that I plan to seek out the first two. If you like noir-style novels, this is a good one.