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Checked out
Due 21 Jan 2024
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Fiction. Mystery. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA HISTORICAL DAGGER AWARD* A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year A New York Times Editors' Choice Pick "Banville sets up and then deftly demolishes the Agatha Christie format...superbly rich and sophisticated."�??New York Times Book Review The incomparable Booker Prize winner's next great crime novel�??the story of a family whose secrets resurface when a parish priest is found murdered in their ancestral home Detective Inspector St. John Strafford has been summoned to County Wexford to investigate a murder. A parish priest has been found dead in Ballyglass House, the family seat of the aristocratic, secretive Osborne family. The year is 1957 and the Catholic Church rules Ireland with an iron fist. Strafford�??flinty, visibly Protestant and determined to identify the murderer�??faces obstruction at every turn, from the heavily accumulating snow to the culture of silence in the tight-knit community he begins to investigate. As he delves further, he learns the Osbornes are not at all what they seem. And when his own deputy goes missing, Strafford must work to unravel the ever-expanding mystery before the community's secrets, like the snowfall itself, threaten to obliterate everything. Beautifully crafted, darkly evocative and pulsing with suspense, Snow is "the Irish master" (New Yorker) John Banville at his page-turning best. Don't miss John Banville's next novel, April in Spai… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member pgchuis
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT
I loved the first quarter of this novel: the writing was great, the setting was interesting (Protestant police detective sent to investigate the murder of a Catholic priest in the home of one of the few remaining
First Strafford's character seemed to change - suddenly he was lusting after every female who crossed his path, kissing the possibly mentally ill and definitely addicted Sylvia. He later realized that this was because he was in fact in love wth the schoolgirl daughter, Letty (Strafford is 34). None of these feelings seemed to stop him spending the night with a handily available barmaid, who was also in her teens.
Then the solution to the murder of the priest was very unoriginal really - surely this has been done already. The "Interlude" section towards the end (which was long and took me out of the main story) was unpleasant to read. Also, why did Letty put the note in Strafford's pocket which led him to work out what was going on? It only served to implicate her brother and co-conspirator...
SPOILERS THROUGHOUT
I loved the first quarter of this novel: the writing was great, the setting was interesting (Protestant police detective sent to investigate the murder of a Catholic priest in the home of one of the few remaining
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Protestant country families), and I liked Strafford with his wry humour and the way people kept mispronouncing his name. It became clear fairly early on that this was going to be about the influence of the Catholic church, but it did not turn out as I had hoped.First Strafford's character seemed to change - suddenly he was lusting after every female who crossed his path, kissing the possibly mentally ill and definitely addicted Sylvia. He later realized that this was because he was in fact in love wth the schoolgirl daughter, Letty (Strafford is 34). None of these feelings seemed to stop him spending the night with a handily available barmaid, who was also in her teens.
Then the solution to the murder of the priest was very unoriginal really - surely this has been done already. The "Interlude" section towards the end (which was long and took me out of the main story) was unpleasant to read. Also, why did Letty put the note in Strafford's pocket which led him to work out what was going on? It only served to implicate her brother and co-conspirator...
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LibraryThing member quartzite
This is probably the worst book I have read in a long while. The characters were all cliches to point of caricature and deeply unlikeable. The mood was unrelentingly grim. The plot was likewise a string of cliches to the point where the final twist could not have been less surprising. The actual
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detection was pretty much nil. Show Less
LibraryThing member brangwinn
As always, Banville writes an enjoyable mystery. Set in 1950’s Ireland, Detective Inspector Strafford is sent to Ballyglass House to investigate the grisly murder of a Catholic priest. There’s a lot at play here. There is always the tension of Catholics and Protestants. There’s the small town
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of Ballyglass where everyone want to know what is going on and there seems the be the ever-present aspect of Catholic priests abusing young boys. When the murder is solved, the reader won’t be surprised. The strength of the mystery lies in the characters. Show Less
LibraryThing member eyes.2c
1957 Irish mystery with a twist!
A Catholic Priest has been rather viciously killed. Detective Inspector (St. John pronounced Sinjun) Strafford has been sent to investigate. And that's an interesting aspect of the story as well.
The snow and cold frame the story's heaviness to a nicety.
The
Indeed Strafford is rather an unusual person and as we are carried along by his reflections, I found myself standing outside of him and alongside him. I was occasionally well and truly puzzled by his thoughts and his responses especially with women.
As I've said, Banville's writing is alarmingly deceptive, hiding rotten truths and hosting quite an array of very individual characters with numerous references to many parts of Irish social, political and religious happenings, from the Troubles, to religious conflicts and religious scandals, hints of the Magdalene laundries and more. As Strafford works his way through the story behind Father Tom's death, it's perhaps the last chapter, set years later that confirms what we already suspect. (Miss Marple always says that the world can be found in a village.)
Not a story for everyone, with triggers centered around abuse and victims of abuse.
However I must say I was fixated by Banville's writing style. It's that that elevates this novel from a four star to a five star read, difficult though that read is.
A Harlequin Trade ARC via NetGalley
A Catholic Priest has been rather viciously killed. Detective Inspector (St. John pronounced Sinjun) Strafford has been sent to investigate. And that's an interesting aspect of the story as well.
The snow and cold frame the story's heaviness to a nicety.
The
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accompanying notes to the Father's death don't leave much room for us not to make the leap as to why he might've been killed but, the melding of Strafford's voice counterpointed by that of the dead man threw me. I wasn't really up for the very matter of fact explanations for abuse dropping from the perpetrator's lips. So reasonable, with such convinced righteousness. Very confronting and shocking! Father Tom had totally convinced himself that it was his victims' fault. Banville's writing is so very disarming, and it's this tension that for me carries the drama. As do the cast of characters who inhabit the small village of Ballyclass. A place Strafford, having grown up in one somewhat similar, fits right into. In fact the story is littered with idiosyncratic characters.Indeed Strafford is rather an unusual person and as we are carried along by his reflections, I found myself standing outside of him and alongside him. I was occasionally well and truly puzzled by his thoughts and his responses especially with women.
As I've said, Banville's writing is alarmingly deceptive, hiding rotten truths and hosting quite an array of very individual characters with numerous references to many parts of Irish social, political and religious happenings, from the Troubles, to religious conflicts and religious scandals, hints of the Magdalene laundries and more. As Strafford works his way through the story behind Father Tom's death, it's perhaps the last chapter, set years later that confirms what we already suspect. (Miss Marple always says that the world can be found in a village.)
Not a story for everyone, with triggers centered around abuse and victims of abuse.
However I must say I was fixated by Banville's writing style. It's that that elevates this novel from a four star to a five star read, difficult though that read is.
A Harlequin Trade ARC via NetGalley
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LibraryThing member nbmars
On one level, in this book John Banville offers a sly wink at iconic British crime fiction. This story takes place in a small village at an aristocratic manor house, with all the suspects already at the scene of the crime, committed, of course, in the library with a dagger. The detective only has
On another level, this is historical fiction, set in the winter of 1957 Ireland, when tensions were simmering between Protestants and Catholics, and expectations of class, power, and religion colored every interaction between the two groups, even down to preference in whisky. (The Catholics, apparently, prefer Jameson’s to Bushmills, and consider it a pointed insult to be offered whisky not in keeping with their heritage, “another of the multitude of minor myths the country thrived on.”)
Police Detective Inspector St John Strafford has been sent in a serious snowstorm from Dublin to Ballyglass House in the County of Wexford. This run-down manor was owned by the Protestant Colonel Osborne, so it was thought that the Protestant Strafford might handle the situation more diplomatically than Catholics in the force. At Ballyglass, a priest who was a guest of the house, Father Tom Lawless, has just been murdered and mutilated. Readers can guess why a priest might have been castrated, and the author eventually supplies us with the gruesome justifications for the crime. But more than one person associated with the manor has a motive, and Strafford must figure out which one it is.
The main characters are odd, and all seem, in Strafford’s eyes, to be playing some sort of roles.
Osborne was “very much a type,” Strafford noticed:
“'Odd,' he thought, 'that a man should take the time to dress and groom himself so punctiliously while the body of a stabbed and castrated priest lay on the floor in his library. But of course the forms must be observed, whatever the circumstances - afternoon tea had been taken every day, often outdoors, during the siege of Khartoum.'”
Osborne’s young (second) wife Sylvia, is generally considered to be crazy, and is administered sedatives every day by a doctor.
Osborne has two children from his first wife who are also at home, as it is Christmastime. Lettie is seventeen, cruel, sarcastic, and full of herself, and Dominic is a morose medical student at Trinity College in Dublin.
In addition, there are a few staff members around, and a few locals who have occasion to stop by frequently at the manor.
Strafford not only had to root through the skeletons hiding in the house. He had to do so within the confines of reality in 1957 Ireland, which meant that:
“The Catholic Church - the powers that be, in other words - would shoulder its way in and take over. There would be a cover-up, some plausible lie would be peddled to the public. The only question was how deeply the facts could be buried.”
Indeed, Strafford was summoned for a parley of sorts with the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, to discuss his handling of the case, and to receive not so subtle threats about what he did or did not reveal to the press.
Strafford finally closes in on what happened, but only as near as he can get to it by the actors all so wedded to their roles and to their secrets.
Evaluation: This crime story is cleverly told, but the specifics were so abhorrent to me I could hardly bear to read it. This was certainly not the author’s fault, as reality is sometimes just that way, but I can’t really say I enjoyed it.
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to deduce which one is guilty, which is accomplished simultaneously with the gradual revelation of the sordid secrets of the suspects.On another level, this is historical fiction, set in the winter of 1957 Ireland, when tensions were simmering between Protestants and Catholics, and expectations of class, power, and religion colored every interaction between the two groups, even down to preference in whisky. (The Catholics, apparently, prefer Jameson’s to Bushmills, and consider it a pointed insult to be offered whisky not in keeping with their heritage, “another of the multitude of minor myths the country thrived on.”)
Police Detective Inspector St John Strafford has been sent in a serious snowstorm from Dublin to Ballyglass House in the County of Wexford. This run-down manor was owned by the Protestant Colonel Osborne, so it was thought that the Protestant Strafford might handle the situation more diplomatically than Catholics in the force. At Ballyglass, a priest who was a guest of the house, Father Tom Lawless, has just been murdered and mutilated. Readers can guess why a priest might have been castrated, and the author eventually supplies us with the gruesome justifications for the crime. But more than one person associated with the manor has a motive, and Strafford must figure out which one it is.
The main characters are odd, and all seem, in Strafford’s eyes, to be playing some sort of roles.
Osborne was “very much a type,” Strafford noticed:
“'Odd,' he thought, 'that a man should take the time to dress and groom himself so punctiliously while the body of a stabbed and castrated priest lay on the floor in his library. But of course the forms must be observed, whatever the circumstances - afternoon tea had been taken every day, often outdoors, during the siege of Khartoum.'”
Osborne’s young (second) wife Sylvia, is generally considered to be crazy, and is administered sedatives every day by a doctor.
Osborne has two children from his first wife who are also at home, as it is Christmastime. Lettie is seventeen, cruel, sarcastic, and full of herself, and Dominic is a morose medical student at Trinity College in Dublin.
In addition, there are a few staff members around, and a few locals who have occasion to stop by frequently at the manor.
Strafford not only had to root through the skeletons hiding in the house. He had to do so within the confines of reality in 1957 Ireland, which meant that:
“The Catholic Church - the powers that be, in other words - would shoulder its way in and take over. There would be a cover-up, some plausible lie would be peddled to the public. The only question was how deeply the facts could be buried.”
Indeed, Strafford was summoned for a parley of sorts with the Archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid, to discuss his handling of the case, and to receive not so subtle threats about what he did or did not reveal to the press.
Strafford finally closes in on what happened, but only as near as he can get to it by the actors all so wedded to their roles and to their secrets.
Evaluation: This crime story is cleverly told, but the specifics were so abhorrent to me I could hardly bear to read it. This was certainly not the author’s fault, as reality is sometimes just that way, but I can’t really say I enjoyed it.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Snow, John Banville, author; John Lee, narrator
Described as written in the style of Agatha Christie (something I can’t attest to since I never read Agatha), this novel moves along quickly with short, very well written and descriptive sentences, as it creates realistic images in the mind of the
A well-liked priest visits the home of a well to do family and stays the night because of the weather. During that night, he is brutally murdered and violated. Why? Who is the killer? What is the killer? Will the crime be solved? The victim seems to have come down the steps in the home, and then staggered into the library where he had succumbed to his wounds. Inspector St. John Strafford is called in to solve the case.
While he investigates, he wanders the property and discovers many suspects. He finds Fonzie, a large, lumbering man who lives in a battered old vehicle like one his father once owned to take the family on trips. Then he encounters the butcher, Rick, who rescues him from the bitter cold and drives him back to the house where he interviews the second Mrs. Osborne. The first one died falling down the same set of stairs the priest descended to his death. She seems a bit mad. She found the body of the priest. She is a bit disorienting and seems distracted, not able to focus. Colonel Osborne appeared and their interview ended abruptly.
Strafford questioned Dominick Osborne, the stepson. His mom had died falling down the same staircase the priest had descended to his death. Meanwhile, his sister, Letty Osborne, had been hiding in the woods. Why was she hiding? Did she want to be caught? She had a secret path, no one knew about. Where was she going?
Will this crime be solved? Will there be a cover-up because it involved a priest? Will the town’s own law enforcement shield the family, the world and the church from the truth?
The narrator of this novel is superb. John Lee always captures just the right tone and attitude for each of the characters. The book would be a great addition to a road trip!
Described as written in the style of Agatha Christie (something I can’t attest to since I never read Agatha), this novel moves along quickly with short, very well written and descriptive sentences, as it creates realistic images in the mind of the
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reader. Scenes being described can be imagined as if one was actually there watching them as they played out.A well-liked priest visits the home of a well to do family and stays the night because of the weather. During that night, he is brutally murdered and violated. Why? Who is the killer? What is the killer? Will the crime be solved? The victim seems to have come down the steps in the home, and then staggered into the library where he had succumbed to his wounds. Inspector St. John Strafford is called in to solve the case.
While he investigates, he wanders the property and discovers many suspects. He finds Fonzie, a large, lumbering man who lives in a battered old vehicle like one his father once owned to take the family on trips. Then he encounters the butcher, Rick, who rescues him from the bitter cold and drives him back to the house where he interviews the second Mrs. Osborne. The first one died falling down the same set of stairs the priest descended to his death. She seems a bit mad. She found the body of the priest. She is a bit disorienting and seems distracted, not able to focus. Colonel Osborne appeared and their interview ended abruptly.
Strafford questioned Dominick Osborne, the stepson. His mom had died falling down the same staircase the priest had descended to his death. Meanwhile, his sister, Letty Osborne, had been hiding in the woods. Why was she hiding? Did she want to be caught? She had a secret path, no one knew about. Where was she going?
Will this crime be solved? Will there be a cover-up because it involved a priest? Will the town’s own law enforcement shield the family, the world and the church from the truth?
The narrator of this novel is superb. John Lee always captures just the right tone and attitude for each of the characters. The book would be a great addition to a road trip!
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LibraryThing member PaperDollLady
Uniquely structured plot of a murder mystery with a twist at the end. Also, narrator John Lee's skillful interpretation enhanced the well-crafted storyline.
LibraryThing member Doondeck
The writing is so captivating. A different take on the typical mystery. You can see Agatha Christie in the background but the narrative takes it so much farther.
LibraryThing member carole888fort
Snow by John Banville is a murder mystery and police procedural which takes place in County Wexford, Ireland. The year is 1957 and Detective Inspector St. John Strafford has been tasked with investigating the apparent murder of a priest, at Ballyglass House, ancestral home of the Osborne family. A
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snow storm is raging, the family appears unable to offer precise help in the matter and the DI’s detective has gone missing. As intriguing as this mystery is, what shines here is the quality of the prose. It is a pure pleasure to spend time immersed in this book. Banville is the 2005 Booker Prize winner for his novel The Sea: enough said. I highly recommend Snow to all mystery readers and every other reader. Thank you to Hanover Square Press, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carol420
This is the first book that carries the name Jon Banville. This author usually writes under the name Benjamin Black whose books I have been a big fan of for sometime…so I was more than interested to see if there would be any difference in the writing style with this name. Inspector St. John
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Straffors is a man on the fence…both an insider and an outsider. For one thing he’s a Protestant in a country and a time...1957… that the Catholic Church ruled Ireland with an iron, unbreakable, ungiving, hand. This is a very seriously disturbing but beautifully written story but readers need to be aware that it contains some very graphic accounts of abuse that is going to seriously disturb some. The only thing that I hope is discontinued in future books…and I do so hope there are going to be many future books…is that DI Strafford steps so carefully among his peers and the town population that he sometimes comes off as completely clueless. I am looking forward to meeting St. John Strafford again soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
When a priest is murdered in an Irish country house in the middle of the night, Detective Inspector Strafford is dispatched to investigate. If you’ve ever read a murder mystery, watched one on television, or played a game of Clue, you could do a more thorough job than Strafford. He performs the
The Osborne family are cardboard cutouts, stereotypical and lacking depth. The father is out of touch, his second wife has mental health issues, there’s a “wild” daughter, a broody son, and a shady handyman who lives on the estate. The priest is a complete unknown other than being a close friend of the family. So there’s not much to go on, and by this point John Banville has written himself into a cul-de-sac. To resolve this dilemma he abruptly hits “pause” and provides an “interlude” from ten years earlier, told by the now-dead priest. To the surprise of no one, the priest has a troubling but entirely predictable past. So, hmmm, who would harbor strong feelings about the priest, strong enough to commit murder? Lucky for Strafford, he finds clues scribbled on paper and thrust into his pocket (seriously?!), and yet it takes him surprisingly long to reach a conclusion. I guess he was distracted by the attractive young woman, who, in another overused trope, surprises Strafford by visiting him in his room.
To his credit, Banville attempts to infuse life into this tale with historic context about class differences and the early years of the Irish republic. In fact, a review in the New York Times praised these elements for making the novel something deeper than a standard police procedural. For me, there wasn’t enough of It to elevate Snow beyond a mediocre murder mystery.
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usual task of speaking to the Osborne family who live in the house. He spots a couple of clues and asks local police to follow up but there’s no urgency, and no relentless “all hands on deck” approach to tracking down the killer. Just Strafford aimlessly going about his task, and then retiring to the inn where he’s booked a room for the night. The change of scene gives him the opportunity to talk to some locals who may or may not be relevant to the case, and to speculate about his chances with an attractive young woman working in the bar. Strafford spends a comfortable night at the inn and repeats this lackluster routine the following day, with no new insights. However, Strafford’s assistant disappears and Strafford is called before the archbishop who — no surprise — wants to cover up the murder.The Osborne family are cardboard cutouts, stereotypical and lacking depth. The father is out of touch, his second wife has mental health issues, there’s a “wild” daughter, a broody son, and a shady handyman who lives on the estate. The priest is a complete unknown other than being a close friend of the family. So there’s not much to go on, and by this point John Banville has written himself into a cul-de-sac. To resolve this dilemma he abruptly hits “pause” and provides an “interlude” from ten years earlier, told by the now-dead priest. To the surprise of no one, the priest has a troubling but entirely predictable past. So, hmmm, who would harbor strong feelings about the priest, strong enough to commit murder? Lucky for Strafford, he finds clues scribbled on paper and thrust into his pocket (seriously?!), and yet it takes him surprisingly long to reach a conclusion. I guess he was distracted by the attractive young woman, who, in another overused trope, surprises Strafford by visiting him in his room.
To his credit, Banville attempts to infuse life into this tale with historic context about class differences and the early years of the Irish republic. In fact, a review in the New York Times praised these elements for making the novel something deeper than a standard police procedural. For me, there wasn’t enough of It to elevate Snow beyond a mediocre murder mystery.
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LibraryThing member barlow304
Not having read the mysteries John Banville has written under the pen name of Benjamin Black, I cannot say how much this novel resembles them. But I can say that as a mystery this is first rate. I think the author plays fair with the reader in the main mystery, but the appeal of the novel is its
But more than the whodunit, the question becomes, Why does nobody mourn the death of a popular priest in the house of a prominent Protestant family? The answer to this is the key to the whodunit.
Brilliantly written, the book carries the reader off to the Ireland of the 1950s, when Mother Church held sway over many aspects of Irish life. The detective, always at a remove from his own emotions, must muddle his way through the web of lies and evasions a small town in Ireland can hold.
Strongly recommended, both for the mystery and for the atmosphere.
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setting: Ireland in the winter of 1957, with snow piling up throughout the country.But more than the whodunit, the question becomes, Why does nobody mourn the death of a popular priest in the house of a prominent Protestant family? The answer to this is the key to the whodunit.
Brilliantly written, the book carries the reader off to the Ireland of the 1950s, when Mother Church held sway over many aspects of Irish life. The detective, always at a remove from his own emotions, must muddle his way through the web of lies and evasions a small town in Ireland can hold.
Strongly recommended, both for the mystery and for the atmosphere.
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LibraryThing member icolford
John Banville has dispensed with the Benjamin Black nom-de-plume for this gripping whodunit, though the novel shares time and place with his exquisite crime series featuring Dublin pathologist Quirke. In Snow, it is December 1957, Christmas is approaching, and Detective Inspector St. John Strafford
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has been called to Ballyglass House in County Wexford to investigate the gruesome murder of a priest, Father Tom Lawless, widely known simply as Father Tom. Ancient, gloomy Ballyglass is home to the Osborne family, Anglo-Irish Protestant, wealthy, influential and connected. Father Tom, a frequent guest at Ballyglass, was on this occasion compelled to stay over for the night because a heavy snowfall rendered the roads impassable. Strafford’s crime scene is messy, the attack beginning in an upstairs hallway, where someone stabbed the priest in the neck. Pursued by his assailant, Father Tom stumbled down the stairs and into the library, where the killer finished him off with an act of genital mutilation. The brutal and frenzied nature of the crime is sickening. Who would do such a thing? Strafford, only child of a well-off Protestant family, finds himself facing an array of obstructions in his pursuit of the truth: a crime scene that was properly tidied up before the police arrived, snow that continues to fall making travel difficult, the interference of the local Catholic Archbishop who insists that statements to the press about the incident refer to the death as accidental, and the puzzling disappearance of his second-in-command, young DS Jenkins. Despite their status and apparent affluence, the Osborne family is transparently dysfunctional, and all of them—snobbish Colonel Osborne, Sylvia, his flirtatious and heavily medicated and much younger second wife, and the Colonel’s two children from a previous marriage—have things to hide. A bevy of eccentrics round out the cast: employees of the Osbornes (Mrs. Duffy the housekeeper, Fonsey the stable boy) and several local characters, all of whom love a good gossip, and some of whom don’t seem to think all that highly of the Osbornes or Father Tom. The story is suspenseful and intricately plotted, the writing energised by deft touches of dry humour and brought alive by period detail. But, as always with Banville’s fiction, we can look beyond the story and revel in the prose, which is precise, observant, witty, and stunningly atmospheric. Snow is an elegantly written and suspenseful literary thriller whose entertainment value is greatly enhanced by the author’s thorough familiarity with Irish history and culture and the religious and political tensions that touched all aspects of Irish life in the 1950s. It is also highly enjoyable and a welcome addition to Banville’s oeuvre. Show Less
LibraryThing member delphimo
John Banville writes eloquent prose with multiple allusions to Agatha Christie, William Shakespeare, and Raymond Chandler that forced me to Goggle the names, places, and people. Poor Fonsey the Fierce glimmers in the distance as Caliban. The second Mrs. Osborne flitters in and out of the narrative
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as the White Mouse. Detective Inspector Saint John Stratford mentions that this case resembles that woman mystery writer, albeit Agatha Christie’s The Murder on the Orient Express. This lighthearted banter softens the brutality of the murder of a Catholic priest and the final act of vengeance in the castration of the priest. The story begins with the priest’s narrative and his attention to details in his final minutes. The priest returns in the narrative later in the book and explains his deviant behavior. In Ireland, priest stand as the ideal and a priest can do no wrong, but John Banville exposes this misconception. A big shocker at the end. Show Less
LibraryThing member JulieStielstra
I haven't read the popular Quirke series by Banville under his pen-name of Benjamin Black, but I appreciate Banville as a critic, and figured if he wrote this one under his own name it might be worth a look. Set in mid-1950s Ireland, where British-Irish tensions run high and the Catholic church
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basically still runs the show, its social conflict, caste prejudices, and economic pressures are an interesting setting. The "Prod" policeman is a morose man who wearily (and repeatedly) corrects the spelling of his name ("Strafford with an r"). He is called in to investigate an actual "body in the library" of an upper-class Anglo-Irish family - a rather smarmy hail-fellow-well-met local priest who ingratiates himself with them. Aside from its sociological aspects, it looks like a pretty typical country-house-in-a-blizzard murder mystery - but then Banville seems to have some fun with darkly undermining the old trope. Unfortunately, the solution / explanation is apparent pretty quickly and predictably; an oddly inserted chapter from the victim's point of view feels unconvincing, as does Strafford's uncharacteristic erotic impulses toward just plain weird and annoying women. It's well written - perhaps he leans a bit too hard on the wintry cold and snow atmosphere, but it's a competent couple of evenings' read. I'll try another one, but this one was not one of those "Oh, boy! A new series I can dig into!" thrill. Show Less
LibraryThing member Beamis12
3.5 Banville is another versatile author who writes in many different genres. In Snow, the atmosphere is front and center. It is cold, the ground covered in the white stuff which often hinders the investigation. It permeates the air, permeates everything and makes it very difficult for Inspector
The body has been tidied up, making his investigation more difficult. The members of the family each seem to be acting a part, a part that seems to change daily. Nothing is quite as it seems.
A more predictable outing for Banville, but despite this his prose, his characterizations and the atmosphere are all outstanding. There are secrets, hidden pasts and a continuing drama. There are limited suspects in the house and on the grounds, so who did the actual deed? An intricate police procedural follows and as predictable as I found the book, I thought the ending fitting and well done. Maybe not one of his best, but Banville for me is always worth reading.
Warning: sexual situations.
ARC from Edelweiss.
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Strafford. It is 1954 in Ireland, County Wexford, and the Catholic Church rules with an iron fist. Strafford, a Protestant, is called to the manor house of Colonel Osborne, to investigate the murder of a Catholic Priest, found stabbed and multilated in the house library.The body has been tidied up, making his investigation more difficult. The members of the family each seem to be acting a part, a part that seems to change daily. Nothing is quite as it seems.
A more predictable outing for Banville, but despite this his prose, his characterizations and the atmosphere are all outstanding. There are secrets, hidden pasts and a continuing drama. There are limited suspects in the house and on the grounds, so who did the actual deed? An intricate police procedural follows and as predictable as I found the book, I thought the ending fitting and well done. Maybe not one of his best, but Banville for me is always worth reading.
Warning: sexual situations.
ARC from Edelweiss.
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LibraryThing member thornton37814
Inspector Strafford of the gardai is called to a country home where a parish priest was murdered. Although rumored to have fallen down the stairs, the man met his demise as a stabbing victim with a twist. The small suspect list consists of only those persons on the premises that night. His sergeant The future time period created an interesting twist. However, I really would have appreciated the resolution coming in the present time. I'm not sure I really liked Strafford as a detective that much. As a fan of some of Banville's other work, this book disappointed.
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becomes missing later in the novel. The novel worked although it wasn't outstanding until the last 65 pages or so. At that point, the author takes us to a point in the past and eventually also to a point in the future. The information for the first part could have been told in another manner in the present-day. Show Less
LibraryThing member write-review
The Obvious Overlooked
Detective Inspector St. John Strafford knows himself well in at least one regard. He regularly wonders why he became a police detective, how he probably stumbled into the job, that he isn’t good at reading people, and that maybe he should have become a lawyer, but even at
Strafford is sent down from Dublin to County Wexford to investigate the murder of a well liked priest in the home of the Protestant aristocratic Osborne family. The priest has come to a particularly brutal end, stabbed and gelded. Which would have any detective thinking at least three things: someone despised the priest; sex may have been motive; and more has to be learned about the priest’s life. Instead of using any one of these as a departure point, Strafford spends his time wandering around the house, desultorily interviewing the various members of the Osborne household, each of whom, in Agatha Christie style, could be the murderer, because the one useful thing he discovers is that there was no forced entry into the home. Most readers will be way ahead of Strafford, especially when they finally learn a bit more about the priest. The murderer then becomes pretty obvious, and the slight twist at the end adds nothing to saving this novel from its greatest affliction, on itself and readers: boredom.
So, as a cozy detective novel, it leaves lots to be desired. As an atmospheric of life in Ireland in the late 1950s, well there it does succeed with descriptions of coldness, bleakness, still fresh wounds of the Irish civil war, and the power of the Catholic church. But at its primary purpose, that of murder mystery, most readers seeking this fare will find better elsewhere, sorry to say.
Detective Inspector St. John Strafford knows himself well in at least one regard. He regularly wonders why he became a police detective, how he probably stumbled into the job, that he isn’t good at reading people, and that maybe he should have become a lawyer, but even at
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that he might not have succeeded. Readers, after trudging through the Christmas season snow and freezing beside him in Ballyglass House, will certainly agree when they tire of urging him to do the most basic of police investigative work: learn the background of the victim. Really, that he overlooks this elementary detecting dictum will certainly madden many readers, as it did this one.Strafford is sent down from Dublin to County Wexford to investigate the murder of a well liked priest in the home of the Protestant aristocratic Osborne family. The priest has come to a particularly brutal end, stabbed and gelded. Which would have any detective thinking at least three things: someone despised the priest; sex may have been motive; and more has to be learned about the priest’s life. Instead of using any one of these as a departure point, Strafford spends his time wandering around the house, desultorily interviewing the various members of the Osborne household, each of whom, in Agatha Christie style, could be the murderer, because the one useful thing he discovers is that there was no forced entry into the home. Most readers will be way ahead of Strafford, especially when they finally learn a bit more about the priest. The murderer then becomes pretty obvious, and the slight twist at the end adds nothing to saving this novel from its greatest affliction, on itself and readers: boredom.
So, as a cozy detective novel, it leaves lots to be desired. As an atmospheric of life in Ireland in the late 1950s, well there it does succeed with descriptions of coldness, bleakness, still fresh wounds of the Irish civil war, and the power of the Catholic church. But at its primary purpose, that of murder mystery, most readers seeking this fare will find better elsewhere, sorry to say.
Show Less
LibraryThing member write-review
The Obvious Overlooked
Detective Inspector St. John Strafford knows himself well in at least one regard. He regularly wonders why he became a police detective, how he probably stumbled into the job, that he isn’t good at reading people, and that maybe he should have become a lawyer, but even at
Strafford is sent down from Dublin to County Wexford to investigate the murder of a well liked priest in the home of the Protestant aristocratic Osborne family. The priest has come to a particularly brutal end, stabbed and gelded. Which would have any detective thinking at least three things: someone despised the priest; sex may have been motive; and more has to be learned about the priest’s life. Instead of using any one of these as a departure point, Strafford spends his time wandering around the house, desultorily interviewing the various members of the Osborne household, each of whom, in Agatha Christie style, could be the murderer, because the one useful thing he discovers is that there was no forced entry into the home. Most readers will be way ahead of Strafford, especially when they finally learn a bit more about the priest. The murderer then becomes pretty obvious, and the slight twist at the end adds nothing to saving this novel from its greatest affliction, on itself and readers: boredom.
So, as a cozy detective novel, it leaves lots to be desired. As an atmospheric of life in Ireland in the late 1950s, well there it does succeed with descriptions of coldness, bleakness, still fresh wounds of the Irish civil war, and the power of the Catholic church. But at its primary purpose, that of murder mystery, most readers seeking this fare will find better elsewhere, sorry to say.
Detective Inspector St. John Strafford knows himself well in at least one regard. He regularly wonders why he became a police detective, how he probably stumbled into the job, that he isn’t good at reading people, and that maybe he should have become a lawyer, but even at
Show More
that he might not have succeeded. Readers, after trudging through the Christmas season snow and freezing beside him in Ballyglass House, will certainly agree when they tire of urging him to do the most basic of police investigative work: learn the background of the victim. Really, that he overlooks this elementary detecting dictum will certainly madden many readers, as it did this one.Strafford is sent down from Dublin to County Wexford to investigate the murder of a well liked priest in the home of the Protestant aristocratic Osborne family. The priest has come to a particularly brutal end, stabbed and gelded. Which would have any detective thinking at least three things: someone despised the priest; sex may have been motive; and more has to be learned about the priest’s life. Instead of using any one of these as a departure point, Strafford spends his time wandering around the house, desultorily interviewing the various members of the Osborne household, each of whom, in Agatha Christie style, could be the murderer, because the one useful thing he discovers is that there was no forced entry into the home. Most readers will be way ahead of Strafford, especially when they finally learn a bit more about the priest. The murderer then becomes pretty obvious, and the slight twist at the end adds nothing to saving this novel from its greatest affliction, on itself and readers: boredom.
So, as a cozy detective novel, it leaves lots to be desired. As an atmospheric of life in Ireland in the late 1950s, well there it does succeed with descriptions of coldness, bleakness, still fresh wounds of the Irish civil war, and the power of the Catholic church. But at its primary purpose, that of murder mystery, most readers seeking this fare will find better elsewhere, sorry to say.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RonWelton
John Banville announced that Snow is the first of a series built around Detective Inspector St John Strafford. "It’s pronounced Sinjun,” he would wearily explain—was thirty-five and looked ten years younger. He was tall and thin—'gangly' was the word—with a sharp, narrow face, eyes that
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in certain lights showed as green and hair of no particular color, a lock of which had a tendency to fall across his forehead like a limp, gleaming wing ... He had no one, no wife, no children, no lover—no friends, even ... there weren’t a great many people whom Strafford did care for." The novel is set in a small Irish village during the winter of 1957. There are allusions to other Banville characters and places: State Pathologist Dr. Quirke and the orphanage, Carricklea. Also, like other Banville novels, the misery of pedophile priests and a repressive Roman Catholic Church chills the narration and fires the motivations. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bruyere_C
Grim, rather plodding plot and unlikable characters. Saved only by decent prose and the Irish accent of the audiobook performer.
LibraryThing member fromthecomfychair
OK mystery, with a surprise ending. Unappealing detective, Strafford. Why did he write such an unappealing character? Ireland in the 1950's. Winter. Snow. Catholic Church. Sexual abuse of minors.
LibraryThing member FerneMysteryReader
The title captured my instant attention on the evening of our 1st snowstorm of 2022, and the 1st line of the description intrigued me, "The body is in the library," Colonel Osborne said. "Come this way."
It is the winter of 1957, and a body of a priest, Father Thomas J. Lawless, was found early in
Banville's writing is atmospheric particularly in descriptions to the winter weather and to an interesting accommodation in relating the weather description to the murdered individual. "The snow was falling heavily, coming down in big flabby flakes the size of Communion wafers and lodging in icy clumps around the edges."
The power of the novel is in the vivid portrayal of the long-lasting effects of the politics, cover-up, and silence of the Catholic Church.
When I selected this novel I didn't anticipate the dark reading experience. I have found it very difficult to provide a star rating but am providing 3 Stars for the characterization of the Detective and the atmospheric writing of the winter weather not of any recognition of subject matter. It is not a book I would recommend as it's not a book to enjoy but provides a fictional account of a reality that has been true for far too many young boys and men.
It is the winter of 1957, and a body of a priest, Father Thomas J. Lawless, was found early in
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the morning at Ballyglass House, hereditary seat of the Osborne family, in Scarawalsh, County of Wexford, Ireland. Detective Inspector St. John Strafford from Dublin has been assigned as the lead investigator for this investigation. The time span of the book has an "Interlude" to the past in the Summer of 1947, returns to Winter 1957, and then a "Coda" in the Summer of 1967.Banville's writing is atmospheric particularly in descriptions to the winter weather and to an interesting accommodation in relating the weather description to the murdered individual. "The snow was falling heavily, coming down in big flabby flakes the size of Communion wafers and lodging in icy clumps around the edges."
The power of the novel is in the vivid portrayal of the long-lasting effects of the politics, cover-up, and silence of the Catholic Church.
When I selected this novel I didn't anticipate the dark reading experience. I have found it very difficult to provide a star rating but am providing 3 Stars for the characterization of the Detective and the atmospheric writing of the winter weather not of any recognition of subject matter. It is not a book I would recommend as it's not a book to enjoy but provides a fictional account of a reality that has been true for far too many young boys and men.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SamShumate
Overall a pretty good story. However, I think the interlude chapter was unnecessary. I don't care how a child molester rationalizes his behavior. That bit of back story could have been told via another character; the molester's victim perhaps?
LibraryThing member quondame
There's nothing wrong with this novel - except that it was written 50-20 years too late to be relevant. Sure there's a twist or two, but so has any mystery post 1990. A "protestant" detective in the newly independent Ireland finds himself over his head when he really shouldn't be. And do Anglicans
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consider themselves protestant? I don't know that they weren't called that in Ireland, but they weren't and aren't really. Show Less
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2021)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (2020)