Well-written mysteries should be written by great authors. Irish writer John Banville, winner of the Man Booker Prize, certainly fits the category. The Silver Swan, written under the pen name Benjamin Black, is his second mystery featuring the irascible Irish pathologist Quirke. It works not only as a successful mystery, but also as an example of what a talented author can bring to any genre.

Quirke is approached by a distant acquaintance, who asks for a particular favour. Billy Hunt’s wife, a beautician named Laura Swan, has died, an apparent drowning victim. When Hunt asks Quirke if the pathologist can skip the formality of an autopsy out of respect for the body, Quirke becomes curious. As readers of the first Quirke mystery, Christine Falls, could easily anticipate, he becomes obsessed by the case of the enigmatic beauty after he ignores Hunt’s request, performs the disputed autopsy and discovers Swan was murdered.

As he delves further into the events behind Swan’s death, Quirke uncovers a Dublin unknown to him. Swan’s involvement with esoteric and alternative people and events leads Quirke down an unexpected path towards his own daughter Phoebe. The tense and strained relationship between Quirke and Phoebe plays a pivotal role in The Silver Swan as Quirke struggles to understand his distant, enigmatic daughter and come to terms with the death of her adopted mother, who was the great passion of Quirke’s life.

The real beauty of The Silver Swan lies in Black’s portrayal of a brooding, atmospheric 1950s Dublin. Regardless of the season, the skies feel grey and leaden, as Quirke shuffles through the days, searching for the answers behind Swan’s death. Quirke is a man with an unsatisfactory past and his actions seem designed to atone for his sad relationships, booze-filled personal history and checkered career. Black draws us into a Dublin filled with strange pathways and curiously entwined relationships.