Dr. Quirke, a booze-sodden curmudgeon who happens to be Ireland’s state pathologist, is taking a vacation with his new wife in San Sebastian when he comes across a young woman he’s certain is an old friend of his daughter. But how is that possible? The young woman had been murdered by her brother in Ireland some time earlier, her body never found. A phone call to Dublin brings Quirke’s daughter to Spain, accompanied by one of Ireland’s finest, Inspector Strafford ….

A story that in the hands of a lesser writer might be a pleasing crime yarn is elevated by the beauty and elegance of John Banville’s prose. Anyone looking for something engrossing and somewhat comforting (well, as comforting as a story about murder, incest, and corruption can be) to read during the holidays could do worse than curl up for a couple of days with April in Spain. Something tells me we have a series in the making here.