April in Spain - (Strafford and Quirke) by John Banville (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

*NATIONAL BESTSELLER*

Booker Prize winner John Banville returns with a dark and evocative new mystery set on the Spanish coast

Don't disturb the dead...

On the idyllic coast of San Sebastian, Spain, Dublin pathologist Quirke is struggling to relax, despite the beaches, cafés and the company of his disarmingly lovely wife. When he glimpses a familiar face in the twilight at Las Acadas bar, it's hard at first to tell whether his imagination is just running away with him.

Because this young woman can't be April Latimer. She was murdered by her brother, years ago--the conclusion to an unspeakable scandal that shook one of Ireland's foremost political dynasties.

Unable to ignore his instincts, Quirke makes a call back home to Ireland and soon Detective St. John Strafford is dispatched to Spain. But he's not the only one en route. A relentless hit man is on the hunt for his latest prey, and the next victim might be Quirke himself.

Sumptous, propulsive and utterly transporting, April in Spain is the work of a master writer at the top of his game.

Don't miss John Banville's next novel, The Lock-up!

Other riveting mysteries from John Banville:

• Snow

Review Quotes

"The prose is rich with similes and the plot shocks."--Wall Street Journal

"Great fun from a masterful writer."--Kirkus STARRED review

"[April in Spain] crackles with the kinetic energy of an approaching thunderstorm as Banville brilliantly contrasts the blue skies of Spain with the wine-dark seas roiling inside his characters' heads."--Booklist STARRED review

"Banville rewards his readers with some of the finest prose in the mystery genre...and villains worthy of Agatha Christie's poisoned pen."--BookPage

"A compelling addition to Banville's extensive body of work."--LitHub

"Banville is, as always, so firmly in charge of his storytelling...[a tale] of mini-Shakespearean proportions."--​Toronto Star

"Hurrah! Quirke is back."--The Globe and Mail

"A sordid, splendid mystery."--Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

Praise for John Banville

"John Banville is one of my favorite writers alive, and I pick up his books whenever I need a reminder how to write a good sentence." --R.F. Kuang

"The Irish master." --New Yorker

"One of the best novelists in English." --The Guardian

"John Banville deserves his Booker Prize." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"A grand writer with a seductive style." --New York Times Book Review

"Banville is a master at capturing the most fleeting memory or excruciating twinge of self-awareness with riveting accuracy." --People

"Prodigiously gifted. He cannot write an unpolished phrase." --The Independent

"[Banville's] books are like baroque cathedrals." --Paris Review

"One periodically rereads a [Banville] sentence just to marvel at its beauty." --USA TODAY