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.

This is the first time Quirke has encountered Christine Falls, but the investigation he decides to lead into the way she lived and died uncovers a dark secret at the heart of Dublin's high Catholic network; one with the power to shake his own family and everything he holds dear.

`A ripping detective yarn with the template to follow in the golden bootprints of Rebus' Scotsman

`Superb . . . the final outcome is almost unbearably moving. You're in for a treat' Michael Dibdin, Guardian

`Succeeds sensationally . . . An absorbing plot, beguiling characters and evocative settings . . . His pacing is impeccable' Marcel Berlins, The Times

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 in 2005 for The Sea. He lives in Dublin. Christine Falls is the first book in Benjamin Black's celebrated Quirke Dublin series, now a major BBC TV series starring Gabriel Byrne.