Quirke's pathology department, set deep beneath the city, is his own gloomy realm: always quiet, always night, and always under his control. Until late one evening after a party he stumbles across a body that should not be there and his brother-in-law falsifying the corpse's cause of death. This is the first time Quirke has encountered Christine Falls, but the investigation he decides to lead into the way she lived and died uncovers a dark secret at the heart of Dublin's high Catholic network; one with the power to shake his own family and everything he holds dear. 'A superb stylist ...His control and pacing cannot be faulted, and the final outcome is almost unbearably moving ...You're in for a treat' Michael Dibdin, Guardian 'Succeeds sensationally ...An absorbing plot, beguiling characters and evocative settings ...His pacing is impeccable' Marcel Berlins, The Times 'A gripping, beautifully crafted thriller ...A one sitting-read, an all-night enticement' Scotsman

本傑明•布萊剋（Benjamin Black）是著名作傢約翰•班維爾（John Banville）的筆名。班維爾1945年齣生於愛爾蘭，現居都柏林。班維爾是一位敏銳的評論傢，更是一名齣色的小說傢。2005年，憑《海》獲得當代英國小說界最重要的奬項——布剋奬（Booker Prize）；隨後，應《紐約時報》之邀，班維爾化身本傑明•布萊剋創作“犯罪偵探小說”《墮落的信徒》等，成為當代備受矚目的犯罪小說作傢之一。