Christine Falls

“The book is beautifully written in a tight, quirky style that distinguishes Gran as one of the more original writers working today.”—Bruce DeSilva, Associated Press

“Reads . . . as if David Lynch directed a Raymond Chandler novel.”—CNN

“What would you get if that punkish dragon girl Lisbeth Salander met up with Jim Salliss Lew Griffin walking the back streets of New Orleans? Or Sue Graftons Kinsey Millhone transformed herself into a tattooed magnolia driving a 4x4? Clare DeWitt, thats what youd get . . . DeWitts mesmerizing character and memorable voice take your breath away.”—New Orleans Times-Picayune

Claire DeWitt believes she is the worlds greatest PI, even if few agree with her. A one-time teen detective in Brooklyn, she is a follower of the esoteric French detective Jacques Silette, whose mysterious handbook Détection inspired Claires unusual practices. Claire also has deep roots in New Orleans, where she was mentored by Silettes student the brilliant Constance Darling—until Darling was murdered. When a respected DA goes missing she returns to the hurricane-ravaged city to find out why. Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead is a knockout start to a bracingly original new series.

“The hard-living, wisecracking titular detective bounces around post-Katrina New Orleans trying to track down a missing prosecutor in this auspicious debut of a new mystery series—and the Big Easy is every bit her equal in sass and flavor.”—Elle

“Reminds me why I fell in love with the genre.”—Laura Lippman

"I love this book!" -- Sue Grafton

It's not the dead that seem strange to Quirke. It's the living.

One night, after a few drinks at an office party, Quirke shuffles down into the morgue where he works and finds his brother-in-law, Malachy, altering a file he has no business even reading. Odd enough in itself to find Malachy there, but the next morning, when the haze has lifted, it looks an awful lot like his brother-in-law, the esteemed doctor, was in fact tampering with a corpse — and concealing the cause of death.

It turns out the body belonged to a young woman named Christine Falls. And as Quirke reluctantly presses on toward the true facts behind her death, he comes up against some insidious — and very well-guarded — secrets of Dublin's high Catholic society, among them members of his own family.

Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the first novel in the Quirke series brings all the vividness and psychological insight of Booker Prize winner John Banville's fiction to a thrilling, atmospheric crime story. Quirke is a fascinating and subtly drawn hero, Christine Falls is a classic tale of suspense, and Benjamin Black's debut marks him as a true master of the form.

Discussion Questions

1. "In secret," the author writes, "Quirke prized his loneliness as a mark of some distinction." (pg. 12). What does Quirkes loneliness do for him? How does it make possible what he ultimately accomplishes in the story? Is Quirkes isolation part of what allows him to see the truth about the conspiracy around him?

2. What does Crawford mean when he says to Quirke that America is "the New World," that, "This is the place. Gods country." How are Ireland and America treated differently in the novel? How do these portrayals relate to the current America and Ireland?

3. Do the revelations about Quirke, Phoebe, and what he knew about their relationship change your perception of how he treated her earlier in the novel? Why do you think Quirke kept the secret so long of who her parents were? Was it the right decision?

4. Early in the novel, Quirke is thinking about his late wife Delia: "Perhaps he had cared for her more than

he knew, had cared for what she was, that is, and not just what she had been to him." How do these two different

types of caring come into play for other characters in the novel? Do you think they are always distinct

from each other? Are some people capable only of one or the other?

5. What do you think of the overall portrait of the Catholic Church that emerges from the novel? Did you find the conspiracy plausible? Did you feel sympathy for the nuns, the Staffords, and other less powerful figures who were complicit in it?

6. Consider the difference between Quirkes early childhood, first in a brutal orphanage and then in an adoptive home, and Mals, as the natural-born son of a wealthy father who loved him less than his brother. How do you think their respective childhoods can be connected to the decisions they make in their relationships in this story?

7. What role does social class play in the novel?

8. Why do you think Quirke sleeps with Rose? Is she right when she tells him, "Youre more like me than your precious Sarah. A cold heart and a hot soul…"?

9. What do you think drew Quirke and Sarah together initially? Do you think they were better off for having stayed apart throughout the years, despite an acknowledged love for each other?

10. Quirke realizes midway through the novel that as "Mr. Punch and fat Judy" were beating him, the prospect of his own death was insignificant, that "he had thought he was going to die and was surprised at how little he feared the prospect." Is this is a sign of bravery in Quirke, or despair, or both? Do you think his own life matters more or less to him by the end of the novel?

11. At the end of chapter 28 a nun says to Quirke, "From the little Ive seen of you, youre a good man, if only you knew it." Do you agree with her assessment? What does she mean by, "if only you knew it." Would knowing it change his behavior?

12. What do you imagine happening after the end of the book? How will Quirkes relationship to his family evolve, including to Sarah and Phoebe? Have the events in this story made him a happier man, a better man? Or have they changed him for the worse?