Holy Orders: A Novel [Paperback]

When the body of his daughters friendis brought to his autopsy table, Quirke isplunged into a world of corruption thattakes him to the darkest corners of theCatholic Church, in one ofThe Wall StreetJournalsTen Best Mysteries of the Year.

1950s Dublin. A battered body discovered floating in a canal is quickly identified as Jimmy Minor, an up-and-coming investigative journalist for theClarionand a good friend to Phoebe, the daughter of pathologist Quirke.

Determined to find Jimmys killer, Quirke enlists his sometime partner, Inspector Hackett. As they dig deeper into the stories Jimmy was pursuing and the secrets he was poised to reveal, and Quirke is haunted by the memories of his own grim childhood in a priest-run orphanage, the two men will see just how far the Church and its supporters will go to protect their own interests.

JOHN BANVILLEwas born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. He is the author of numerous novels, includingThe Sea, which won the 2005 Booker Prize, and the DI Quirke mysteries. In 2011 he was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize, in 2013 he was awarded the Irish PEN Award for Outstanding Achievement in Irish Literature, and in 2014 he won the Prince of Asturias Award, Spains most important literary prize. He lives in Dublin.

Praise forHoly Orders

Absorbing...The murder mystery is solved, after its startling fashion, in due timebut not before [Banville] has worked his lyrical magic at fine length, in scenes that unfold with a poet's grace.
The Wall Street Journal

Sophisticated...[Banville] is arguably one of the finest prose stylists writing in English today.
The Wire

Read [Banville] for the prose, the setting and the steadily disintegrating character of Quirke. You wont be disappointed.
The Spectator

It is doubtful that anyone can write as well as [Banl³˜