Binding 13

Argen­tine author Marce­lo Bir­ma­jer uses his recur­ring char­ac­ter, Javier Mosan, to present a com­pli­cat­ed polit­i­cal tale with roots in his country’s trou­bled past. Mosan, a jour­nal­ist who does his best to avoid writ­ing sto­ries, spends a great deal of time indulging in sex­u­al fan­ta­sy. When his edi­tor asks him to inter­view Elias Traúm, an Argen­tinean who now lives in Israel, he thinks that it is just anoth­er rou­tine assign­ment. Traúm and two dead friends were known as the  “three mus­ke­teers” when they fought in the left-wing Per­o­nist guer­ril­la group, the Mon­toneros. Javier goes to the air­port to meet Traúm and ends up get­ting a severe beat­ing. Traúm is kid­napped. He is lat­er dumped by the side of the road and, Javier, relieved to learn that they both sur­vived, finds him­self drawn to the account of Traúm’s past despite orders from his edi­tor to drop the sto­ry. Read­ers who enjoyed Nathan Englander’s The Min­istry of Spe­cial Cas­es will find this com­pelling, too. It pro­vides insight into the world of Argentina’s Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty as well as a top-notch con­spir­a­cy plot.

A Death in Summer is the fourth Quirke Mystery, an enthralling literary crime series set in 1950s Dublin from John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black. Now a major TV series: Quirke, starring Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon.

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 realize that – rather than the suspected suicide – ‘Diamond Dick’ has been murdered.

Suspicion soon falls on one of Jewell’s biggest rivals. But Quirke has his eyes elsewhere. With his assistant Sinclair, he gets to know Jewell's beautiful, enigmatic wife Françoise d’Aubigny and his fragile sister Dannie, as well as those who work for the family. And, gradually, it becomes clear that, in this household, everything is not as it seems . . .

A Death in Summer is the fourth Quirke Mystery. Continue the atmospheric, beguiling series with Vengeance.