Good Reads / Community Library Notes
Snow
John Banville
Review by Priscilla Comen
Snow
John Banville
Review by Priscilla Comen
Snow, by John Banville, is the story of Detective Inspector Strafford who attempts to solve a mystery in a small Irish town. Author Banville won the Booker Prize in 2005 and the Irish PEN award in 2013. His plots are gruesome but logical. This one opens with a priest having been stabbed in the neck after he opens a door to a stairway and goes down into a room. It is very cold and has been snowing continuously for two days. The worst winter ever.
The dead man was Father Tom Lawless, a popular priest. He had been brutally “gelded." Colonel Osborne is the owner of the mansion, a type Strafford is familiar with. Osborne had won a medal at Dunkirk, and his hair is combed up like an exotic bird’s tail. His wife had found the body. Osborne had tidied him up. It was like the scene in a drawing room melodrama with an audience, thinks Strafford. Osborne thought he knew all the Protestants, but does not recognize the Detective. Detective Sergeant Jenkins arrives. He is Strafford’s second in command, in his twenties and smart.
The forensics team arrives and Osborne sends Stafford and Jenkins to the kitchen for tea. Osborne’s wife Sylvia enters, her face like a Madonna. She looks to be twenty-twenty five years younger than Osborne, seems cold and dazed. Five people were in the house last night and the housekeeper has a place downstairs. There’s a daughter, Lettie, who is seventeen and sleeps all the time. There is tension between Strafford and Harry Hall, the leader of the team. Harry says the castration looked like a professional job. There would probably be a scandal, a dead priest in a house of Protestants.
Lettie meets Strafford. They banter back and forth. A boy walks by the window, it’s Fonsie, the stable-boy. “A bit loony,” she says. Amazing to think someone would kill a priest. Someone had. Strafford notices an empty light socket where a bulb should have been. So it was planned, he thinks. A plan always has a flaw. Osborne’s son, Dominic, comes in with his large dog, a Lab. Strafford likes dogs. The Chief Superintendent calls Strafford and tells him he wants the body brought to Dublin. Already a cover-up, thinks Strafford. “It was an accident,” the Super says. The doctor comes to see Mrs. Osborne. He looks after her daily. Jenkins goes to Dublin with the body. He’ll report to Chief and return to Strafford with instructions. Dr. Hafner has no kind words to say about the Archbishop who lives nearby. The Doctor tells Strafford about Freddie Harbison, the wife’s brother, who is always broke and the black sheep of the family.
Strafford finds a pair of boots that fit and goes into the woods. He comes upon a shoddy caravan with a puddle of blood near the door. The door flies open. It is Fonsey, the stable boy. Strafford goes inside. A rabbit is laid out, waiting to be cooked. Strafford feels sorry for the boy, asks if the priest had been friendly to the boy. Fonsey replies the priests are all friendly. And he laughs. Strafford leaves for the mansion, and thinks he should have gone into the law. On the road he’s picked up by a butcher’s truck. It’s Rek, the butcher, but also the proprietor of the inn where he will be staying. Rek tells Strafford about Fonsey: as an orphan, Rek and his wife had taken care of him. When he left them, he went to work at Osborne’s. “He’s a good boy,” says Rek. “He couldn’t have killed a man, didn’t like killing even chickens.”
At the mansion, Strafford finds Mrs. Osborne in a small salon filled with silly figurines. He sits with her, thinks she is mad. Colonel Osborne comes upon them and Strafford leaves. He learns that Lettie had been hiding in the wood when he went walking. She got to Fonsey’s caravan and went inside. She opened a bottle of gin she had brought. She calls him Oaf and spreads her legs under the skirt she has borrowed. They play like puppies, even though she thinks him ugly, dirty, and hates the pimples on his face.
Strafford finds Dominic in the drawing room studying a medical textbook. He’s a medical student. He would know where the jugular was, Strafford thinks. He was twelve when his mother died. She had fallen down the same back stairs where Father Lawless had fallen. His step-mother-to-be had been in the house that night. She and his mother were good friends. They were like characters in a play. Strafford goes to the Inn for the night. It’s warm and cozy. Mrs. Rek makes him feel comfortable and serves him a drink and a good dinner. Soon Freddie Harbison comes in and corners Strafford. He can think of no excuse to get away. Harbison is sure someone shoved the priest to his death. He wants to buy the priest’s horse, Mr. Sugar. Mr. Rek says Strafford should talk to the priest’s sister, Rosemary.
The following day, Strafford rises early to see the priest’s sister. Jenkins offers to accompany him but Strafford tells him to look around the mansion a bit more. It’s freezing cold, with ice on the windscreen. Ruts on the road gleam like black glass. Author Banville is great with similes. The streets are empty and Rosemary Lawless is dressed all in black, as if made of glass that would shatter. Even though she wanted to be a teacher she had to care for her ailing father. She brings Strafford her brother’s boots and thick socks for a walk when she tells him of their father, JJ Lawless, a director of the IRA death squads. After peace, he became a lawyer and defended IRA men until his premature death. Rosemary felt like a piece of furniture, her mother was in a madhouse. As Strafford drives back to the mansion, snow falls like communion wafers, he thinks of asking to be taken off the case, as he is floundering.
At the mansion, he can’t find Jenkins. When he calls the Superintendent he's told there was a stain of semen on the priest’s trousers. Strafford is then summoned to an audience with the Archbishop who lives nearby who asks about the press finding this story sensational. Strafford says some stories are too big to be suppressed. As Strafford leaves, the Archbishop says, “Murder will out," and adds that some aspects of truth are better withheld. Strafford is concerned after Jenkins has been gone four hours. At the mansion, he finds Mrs. Osborne and earns that Millicent, the first wife, had been drunk every night. The second wife had run errands for her. Strafford drives to the barracks, asks for Sergeant Radford and is told that he’s out with the flu. Radford comes in looking ill, pajamas under his uniform. Strafford says that Jenkins is missing and he wants to send men out to look for him. Strafford has in intuition that Jenkins is dead. Radford’s son Larry had walked into the sea a few months before. He had been popular with the priest, but Radford didn’t know why he had done this.
In an Interlude, we learn that Father Lawless had befriended a boy at the reformatory. Even though the priests had been warned not to have favorites, he loved this ginger haired boy.
Strafford goes to Fonsey’s caravan. What does he find there? Does Strafford discover the killer’s identity? Author Banville ties everything up in a Coda at the end. But the reader will still be surprised at the denoument. Banville is a master story-teller of the Irish environment, with pubs and Inns and Archbishops and grisly murders. Find this on the new mystery shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
The dead man was Father Tom Lawless, a popular priest. He had been brutally “gelded." Colonel Osborne is the owner of the mansion, a type Strafford is familiar with. Osborne had won a medal at Dunkirk, and his hair is combed up like an exotic bird’s tail. His wife had found the body. Osborne had tidied him up. It was like the scene in a drawing room melodrama with an audience, thinks Strafford. Osborne thought he knew all the Protestants, but does not recognize the Detective. Detective Sergeant Jenkins arrives. He is Strafford’s second in command, in his twenties and smart.
The forensics team arrives and Osborne sends Stafford and Jenkins to the kitchen for tea. Osborne’s wife Sylvia enters, her face like a Madonna. She looks to be twenty-twenty five years younger than Osborne, seems cold and dazed. Five people were in the house last night and the housekeeper has a place downstairs. There’s a daughter, Lettie, who is seventeen and sleeps all the time. There is tension between Strafford and Harry Hall, the leader of the team. Harry says the castration looked like a professional job. There would probably be a scandal, a dead priest in a house of Protestants.
Lettie meets Strafford. They banter back and forth. A boy walks by the window, it’s Fonsie, the stable-boy. “A bit loony,” she says. Amazing to think someone would kill a priest. Someone had. Strafford notices an empty light socket where a bulb should have been. So it was planned, he thinks. A plan always has a flaw. Osborne’s son, Dominic, comes in with his large dog, a Lab. Strafford likes dogs. The Chief Superintendent calls Strafford and tells him he wants the body brought to Dublin. Already a cover-up, thinks Strafford. “It was an accident,” the Super says. The doctor comes to see Mrs. Osborne. He looks after her daily. Jenkins goes to Dublin with the body. He’ll report to Chief and return to Strafford with instructions. Dr. Hafner has no kind words to say about the Archbishop who lives nearby. The Doctor tells Strafford about Freddie Harbison, the wife’s brother, who is always broke and the black sheep of the family.
Strafford finds a pair of boots that fit and goes into the woods. He comes upon a shoddy caravan with a puddle of blood near the door. The door flies open. It is Fonsey, the stable boy. Strafford goes inside. A rabbit is laid out, waiting to be cooked. Strafford feels sorry for the boy, asks if the priest had been friendly to the boy. Fonsey replies the priests are all friendly. And he laughs. Strafford leaves for the mansion, and thinks he should have gone into the law. On the road he’s picked up by a butcher’s truck. It’s Rek, the butcher, but also the proprietor of the inn where he will be staying. Rek tells Strafford about Fonsey: as an orphan, Rek and his wife had taken care of him. When he left them, he went to work at Osborne’s. “He’s a good boy,” says Rek. “He couldn’t have killed a man, didn’t like killing even chickens.”
At the mansion, Strafford finds Mrs. Osborne in a small salon filled with silly figurines. He sits with her, thinks she is mad. Colonel Osborne comes upon them and Strafford leaves. He learns that Lettie had been hiding in the wood when he went walking. She got to Fonsey’s caravan and went inside. She opened a bottle of gin she had brought. She calls him Oaf and spreads her legs under the skirt she has borrowed. They play like puppies, even though she thinks him ugly, dirty, and hates the pimples on his face.
Strafford finds Dominic in the drawing room studying a medical textbook. He’s a medical student. He would know where the jugular was, Strafford thinks. He was twelve when his mother died. She had fallen down the same back stairs where Father Lawless had fallen. His step-mother-to-be had been in the house that night. She and his mother were good friends. They were like characters in a play. Strafford goes to the Inn for the night. It’s warm and cozy. Mrs. Rek makes him feel comfortable and serves him a drink and a good dinner. Soon Freddie Harbison comes in and corners Strafford. He can think of no excuse to get away. Harbison is sure someone shoved the priest to his death. He wants to buy the priest’s horse, Mr. Sugar. Mr. Rek says Strafford should talk to the priest’s sister, Rosemary.
The following day, Strafford rises early to see the priest’s sister. Jenkins offers to accompany him but Strafford tells him to look around the mansion a bit more. It’s freezing cold, with ice on the windscreen. Ruts on the road gleam like black glass. Author Banville is great with similes. The streets are empty and Rosemary Lawless is dressed all in black, as if made of glass that would shatter. Even though she wanted to be a teacher she had to care for her ailing father. She brings Strafford her brother’s boots and thick socks for a walk when she tells him of their father, JJ Lawless, a director of the IRA death squads. After peace, he became a lawyer and defended IRA men until his premature death. Rosemary felt like a piece of furniture, her mother was in a madhouse. As Strafford drives back to the mansion, snow falls like communion wafers, he thinks of asking to be taken off the case, as he is floundering.
At the mansion, he can’t find Jenkins. When he calls the Superintendent he's told there was a stain of semen on the priest’s trousers. Strafford is then summoned to an audience with the Archbishop who lives nearby who asks about the press finding this story sensational. Strafford says some stories are too big to be suppressed. As Strafford leaves, the Archbishop says, “Murder will out," and adds that some aspects of truth are better withheld. Strafford is concerned after Jenkins has been gone four hours. At the mansion, he finds Mrs. Osborne and earns that Millicent, the first wife, had been drunk every night. The second wife had run errands for her. Strafford drives to the barracks, asks for Sergeant Radford and is told that he’s out with the flu. Radford comes in looking ill, pajamas under his uniform. Strafford says that Jenkins is missing and he wants to send men out to look for him. Strafford has in intuition that Jenkins is dead. Radford’s son Larry had walked into the sea a few months before. He had been popular with the priest, but Radford didn’t know why he had done this.
In an Interlude, we learn that Father Lawless had befriended a boy at the reformatory. Even though the priests had been warned not to have favorites, he loved this ginger haired boy.
Strafford goes to Fonsey’s caravan. What does he find there? Does Strafford discover the killer’s identity? Author Banville ties everything up in a Coda at the end. But the reader will still be surprised at the denoument. Banville is a master story-teller of the Irish environment, with pubs and Inns and Archbishops and grisly murders. Find this on the new mystery shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.