Showing results by author "Benjamin Black" in All Categories

Prague, 1599. Christian Stern, a young doctor, has just arrived in the city. On his first evening, he finds a young woman's body half buried in the snow. The dead woman is none other than the emperor's mistress, and there's no shortage of suspects. Stern is employed by the emperor himself to investigate the murder. In the search to find the culprit, Stern finds himself drawn into the shadowy world of the emperor's court - unspoken affairs, letters written in code, and bitter rivalries. But can he unmask the killer before they reach their next victim?

Why would suicide need a witness? On the east coast of Ireland, Victor Delahaye, one of the country's most prominent citizens, takes his business partner's son out sailing. But once at sea, Davy Clancy is horrified to witness Delahaye take out a gun and shoot himself dead. This strange event captures the attention of Detective Inspector Hackett and his friend Pathologist Doctor Quirke.

The second novel in the Quirke mysteries, now a major TV series starring Gabriel Byrne. Now a major TV series: Quirke starring Gabriel Byrne and written by Andrew Davies. Time has moved on for Quirke, the world-weary pathologist first encountered in Christine Falls. It is the middle of the 1950s, that low, dishonourable decade; a woman he loved has died, a man whom he once admired is dying, while the daughter he for so long denied is still finding it hard to accept him as her father.

Down among the dead men... Pathologist Quirke works in the city morgue, watching over Dublin's dead. The latest to join their ghostly ranks is a suicide. But something doesn't add up. The victim has a suspicious head wound, and the only witness has vanished, every trace of her wiped away. On the trail of the missing woman, Quirke finds himself drawn into the shadowy world of Dublin's elite - secret societies, High Church politics and corrupt politicians.

1950's Ireland. As a deep, bewildering fog cloaks Dublin, a young woman is found to have vanished. When Phoebe Griffin, still haunted by the horrors of her past, is unable to discover news of her friend; Quirke, fresh from drying out in an institution, responds to his daughter's request for help. But as Phoebe, Quirke and Inspector Hackett speak with those who knew April, they begin to realise that there may have been more behind the young woman's discretion and secrecy than they could have imagined.

1950s Dublin: When a body is found in the canal, pathologist Quirke and his detective friend Inspector Hackett must find the truth behind this brutal murder. But in a world where the police are not trusted and secrets often remain buried there is perhaps little hope of bringing the perpetrator to justice. As spring storms descend on Dublin, Quirke and Hackett's investigation will lead them into the dark heart of the organisation that really runs this troubled city: the church.

When newspaper magnate Richard Jewell is found dead at his country estate, clutching a shotgun in his lifeless hands, few see his demise as cause for sorrow. But before long Doctor Quirke and Inspector Hackett realise that, rather than the suspected suicide, ‘Diamond Dick' has in fact been murdered. Suspicion soon falls on one of Jewell's biggest rivals.

The first in the Quirke mysteries - now a major TV series starring Gabriel Byrne. Now a major TV series: Quirke starring Gabriel Byrne and written by Andrew Davies. Quirke’s pathology department, set deep beneath the city, is his own gloomy realm: always quiet, always night and always under his control. Until late one evening after a party he stumbles across a body that should not be there - and his brother-in-law falsifying the corpse’s cause of death.

Maybe it was time I forgot about Nico Peterson, and his sister, and the Cahuilla Club, and Clare Cavendish. Clare? The rest would be easy to put out of my mind, but not the black-eyed blonde... It is the early 1950s. In Los Angeles, Private Detective Philip Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and business is a little slow. Then a new client arrives: young, beautiful, and expensively dressed, Clare Cavendish wants Marlowe to find her former lover, a man named Nico Peterson.

Irlanda, años cincuenta. La misma niebla densa y desconcertante que cubre Dublín parece haber ocultado el rastro de la joven April Latimer. Cuando Phoebe Griffin se ve incapaz de recabar noticia alguna sobre su amiga, Quirke responde a su petición de ayuda y muy pronto los dos, junto con el inspector Hackett, comienzan la búsqueda.

Dublín, años cincuenta. En un depósito de cadáveres, una turbia trama de secretos familiares y organizaciones clandestinas comienza a desvelarse tras el hallazgo de un cuerpo que nunca tendría que haber estado allí. Una oscura conspiración que abarca ambos lados del Atlántico y que acaba envolviendo en un siniestro abrazo, inesperadamente, la vida misma de todos los protagonistas.

Arranca la década de los cincuenta. Philip Marlowe se siente tan inquieto y solo como siempre y el negocio vive sus horas bajas cuando irrumpe en su despacho una nueva clienta: joven, rubia, hermosa y elegante, Clare Cavendish, la rica heredera de un emporio de perfumes, pretende que Marlowe encuentre a un antiguo amante, un hombre llamado Nico Peterson.

Cuando el magnate de la prensa Richard Jewel aparece muerto en su casa de campo una calurosa mañana de verano, pocos lo lamentan. El doctor Quirke y el inspector Hackett no tardan en darse cuenta de que, lejos de tratarse de un posible suicidio, «Diamante Dick» ha sido asesinado.

John Glass ha abandonado su carrera como periodista para escribir una biografía autorizada de su suegro, el magnate de la comunicación y antiguo agente de la CIA, Gran Bill Mulholland. Trabaja en un gran despacho en Manhattan y vuelve a casa (la mayoría de las noches) a los brazos de su rica y bella mujer....

Ha pasado el tiempo para Quirke, el hastiado forense que conocimos en El secreto de Christine. La muerte de su gran amor y el distanciamiento de su hija han conseguido acentuar su carácter solitario, pero su capacidad para meterse en problemas continúa intacta.

El maestro irlandés, ganador del Premio Príncipe de Asturias, vuelve a sorprender con una magistral entrega de Quirke.

Christian Stern, un joven alquimista, erudito y ambicioso, llega a Praga en el amargo invierno de 1599 con la intención de hacer fortuna en la corte del Sacro Emperador Romano, el excéntrico Rodolfo II, sobrino de Felipe II. La noche de su llegada, borracho y perdido, Christian tropieza en el Callejón del Oro, junto al castillo, con el cuerpo de una joven tendido en la nieve. Vestida de terciopelo y con gorguera de encaje, luce en el pecho un gran medallón de oro y un profundo tajo a lo largo del cuello.

Los Delahaye y los Clancy comparten una historia de alianza y ambición que pasa de padres a hijos. Y ahora, también de muerte y preguntas sin respuesta: ¿por qué Victor Delahaye iba a necesitar un testigo para suicidarse?

La madrugada en que el cuerpo de Jimmy Minor aparece flotando en las oscuras aguas del canal, ni Quirke ni su hija Phoebe pueden intuir hasta qué punto esa muerte va a remover sus propias vidas. Mientras Phoebe abre los ojos a una sensualidad desconocida, la investigación arrastra a Quirke de regreso al infierno de su infancia en el orfanato católico de Carricklea. ¿Podrá descubrir qué callan los muros de Trinity Manor? Y si lo consigue, ¿será capaz de sobrevivir a la herida de los propios recuerdos y regresar a la superficie?

Join Benjamin Black as he talks to his creative colleagues from TV, Film & Theatre, about how they got to where they are today.