Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Man Booker Prize for The Sea. He lives in Dublin. Benjamin Black is the author of the Quirke series which has been adapted for BBC television, starring Gabriel Byrne, and The Black Eyed Blonde, now a major film starring Liam Neeson.

Somewhere Raymond Chandler is smiling, because this is a beautifully rendered hardboiled novel that echoes Chandler's melancholy at perfect pitch. I loved this book. It was like having an old friend, one you assumed was dead, walk into the room. Kind of like Terry Lennox, hiding behind those drapes.

Benjamin Black is the pen name of acclaimed author John Banville, who was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. His novels have won numerous awards, including the Man Booker Prize for The Sea. He lives in Dublin. Benjamin Black is the author of the Quirke series which has been adapted for BBC television, starring Gabriel Byrne, and The Black Eyed Blonde, now a major film starring Liam Neeson.

Somewhere Raymond Chandler is smiling, because this is a beautifully rendered hardboiled novel that echoes Chandler's melancholy at perfect pitch. I loved this book. It was like having an old friend, one you assumed was dead, walk into the room. Kind of like Terry Lennox, hiding behind those drapes.