Being Irish helps you to understand this book a lot more. The very obvious cold bleak winter of Ireland, almost a feeling within you growing up in rural Ireland! Catholics v Protestants, murders, whispers, darkness.

John Banville creates wonderful characters that as you read his books, you observe, watch, judge and understand.

A catholic priest is murdered, and a protestant detective is investigating. You might get a small snapshot just from this line, about the story. It is SO worth the read!!

'Snow' takes place in rural Ireland, outside of Dublin, in 1957. It follows Detective Inspector Strafford as he attempts to solve the murder of a mutilated priest. This is a very well-written historical mystery that sheds light on the power struggle between the Catholic Church and the Protestant gentry that occurred after the Irish Civil War. While the reason for the murder is easy enough to guess, the story is still engaging and procedurally interesting. The snow is in itself a character and creates an ominous atmosphere for the story to take part in. This was an enjoyable read and turned me onto this great author.
Thank you to Netgalley and Faber and Faber for the ARC in return for my honest review!

4 stars for an entertaining read about a murder mystery in rural Ireland in the 1950s. This mystery is as much about attitudes in Irish society as it is a murder mystery. A respected Catholic parish priest is found dead in the house of a local Protestant country squire. Religious attitudes and the power of the RC church in 1950s play a prominent role in this book. Detective Inspector Strafford is called in from Dublin to investigate. He and Detective Sergeant Jenkins start to investigate and slowly uncover a tangled web of secrets and lies. The murder was rather gruesome, and there is a pedophile character in the book. This may not be appropriate for cozy mystery fans.
However, the author's description of people and Irish society is full of rich imagery, with a sharp eye for detail.
Some quotes:
Country squire: "Colonel Osborne looked to be in his early fifties, lean and leathery, with a nail brush mustache and sharp ice-blue eyes. He was of middle height, and would have been taller if he hadn't been markedly bow-legged-the result perhaps, Strafford though sardonically, of all that riding to the hounds-and he walked with a curious gait, at once rolling and rickety, like an orangutan that had something wrong with its knees."
Food: "Strafford smiled weakly. 'Oh, I always think steak and kidney pud is better the second day, don't you?' He felt noble and brave. He could not understand how the kidneys of a cow had come to be regarded as food fit for human consumption."
Conversation between Strafford and the local B&B owner: "I read when I have time.
"Ah but you should
make time. The book is one of our great inventions of our species."
Winter: "Frost laden trees, ghost-white and stark, reared up at him in the headlights, their boughs thrown upwards as if in fright."
Thanks to Faber and Faber for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.

John Banville’s Snow started off promising. A murdered Priest bing found in a country house In a remote village just before Christmas in 1957 with snow falling but then it seemed to lose its way and ultimately lost the attention of this reader. 

The ending was also weak and overall the book was not a satisfying read which was a shame

Thank you to faber and faber and netgalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an open and honest review.

Old school murder mystery in the classic style of Cluedo and Agatha Christie. The characters are straight of whodunnit for beginers. The author is clever in that he acknowledges this several times, so if a clichè recognises itself is it still as a clichè? For my part I thought the country manor setting, and usual cast of suspects added greatly to the ambience of the book but then I enjoy a good Agatha Christie. I think as regards to setting and cast readers will either settle into the comfortable sofa of familiarity or think of it as being the worn out sofa of overuse. I am definately the former. The background was interesting in that it wasnt the home counties but the Irish countryside of the 50s with the maelstrom or religeous and political divison whirling away in the background. The plot was twisty with a few red herrings. As the tale develops a thread of sexual deviancy and corruption emerges. None of the main characters were happy, or ended up totally happy which for me is another plus. I think it adds 3d reality to a character. I really enjoyed this book. It is a cracking example of the genre. Its a 4 possibly 4.5 out of 5 for me

Protestant cop Strafford (with an r) is sent to investigate the death of Father Tom, killed (quite graphically) in a fancy mansion - property of old-fashioned Aglo-Irish Protestant Colonel Osborne. There's a lot of religion and a lot of play with the usual themes of classic whodunnits - the snow, the mansion, the 'mad woman', the loner... It was quite atmospheric in a classic but ironic way. 

I found the ending reasonably easy to guess - not necessarily who killed the priest, but rather why. But it didn't spoil the enjoyment of the book - it was really well-written, and until the end I felt John Banville kept a few crumbs of information to throw until the last page. 

I liked the allusions to characters from the Quirke series as well, although I found the book different from the Quirke series.

Snow is a historical mystery novel set in a village outside of Dublin during the mid 1950’s. Detective Inspector St John Strafford is sent to Ballyglass House to investigate the murder of the parish priest Father Tom Lawless. The priest is found stabbed and disfigured in the library and apparently no one saw or heard a thing. 

This was a very atmospheric read with the setting during heavy snow over the period of 3 days around Christmas. The character of DI Strafford is wonderful and I really enjoyed when he thinks about how he is not good at solving puzzles and maybe that is why he was sent to this crime scene (as the Catholic Church wants it covered up). You see a lot of clues through the book as a reader and put them together quicker then DI Strafford does. I found the crime and the investigation well crafted.

There are trigger warnings for sexual abuse of children. There is nothing graphic that is said but the picture is painted on what happens to the children and it is a difficult part to read. There is a lot surrounding religion (Catholics and Protestants) in Ireland in the 1950’s and how the Catholic Churches reach into every part of people’s lives and police processes.  

I thought the book wrapped up nicely and was really well written.

Set in rural Ireland during the Christmas of 1957, in ‘Snow’ John Banville appears to be giving us a pastiche of the Golden Age of Detective fiction at the outset: an isolated country house; eccentric family members; ‘simple’ staff; a body in the library, and the arrival of the police in the form of Protestant Inspector St John Strafford.
However, Banville’s intention is not to write a simple imitation.  At the core of this novel is an exploration the power of the Catholic church and its effect on society; it is highly symbolic that the murdered priest, Father Thomas Lawless, has ‘been gelded’.  Banville also highlights the servitude of women, the rigid class structure, the suppression of sexuality, and the fear of the outsider.  Inspector Strafford is one such – a Protestant amongst the Dublin Catholic police force.
As ever, Banville’s prose is elegant, even poetic, and precise.  His descriptions of place from Colonel Osborne’s mansion where library books ‘stood shoulder to shoulder in an attitude of mute resentment’ to the ‘feral boy’ Fonsey’s caravan which smells of ‘paraffin and candle grease and rancid meat of sweat and smoke and dirty socks’ linger long after the novel has been laid aside.  However, whilst a picture of the snow-bound countryside remains with me, Banville’s portrayal of a hypocritical, brutal Ireland feels very much as if the author is visiting territory that has been explored much of late, yet bringing nothing new to this in his latest novel.
Yes, there is literary ‘cleverness’ in the appropriation of a well-worn genre to scrutinise sociological and religious themes.  Yet, for all that, the story drags, perhaps because the characterisation is rarely convincing.  Beautifully written but ultimately not as powerful a story as I had expected, given the author’s literary pedigree.
My thanks to NetGalley and Faber& Faber Ltd for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

A priest, Father Tom, is found murdered in the library of a Protestant house in Southern Ireland. The story may sound cliched and the characters stereotyped but the writing is superb. The characters are like actors in a play, they know their lines and dress the part but somehow they seen to be more important than the murder itself. 
As the background stories emerge, so the pristine white snow is sullied and dark undertones are uncovered, but the religious code of silence remains!
Amazing writing.

I love a good Golden Age detective novel, and Snow starts out very promisingly with a body in the library of a country house and a number of suspicious characters with excellent motives. However, Snow is not just a whodunnit, it’s also a sensitive portrayal of 1950’s Ireland exploring the power of the Catholic Church and the position of the old Protestant landed gentry left hanging on after independence from the British.

Banville’s writing was great and the snowy chill atmosphere pervaded the book so much that I needed a blanket and a mug of coffee while reading.

A recommended four star read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

A murder mystery sets in 1950's Ireland.  This is the first book I've read by this author.  It was an easy read and one which I got into very quickly.  The story is set in County wexford in Ireland.  A priest is found dead in the home of a well to do family. Detectives are sent from Dublin to investigate what happened.  An entertaining and enjoyable read.

John Banville's historical mystery is set in s heavily snowed in Christmas period in Ireland, County Wexford, in 1957, featuring 35 year old Protestant Dublin Inspector St John Strafford sent to the scene of a gruesome murder of a Catholic Father Tom Lawless at the dilapidated and cold manor, Ballyglass, belonging to the aristocratic Colonel Geoffrey Osborne. Discovered in the early hours of the morning by Sylvia, the insomniac wife of Osborne, the body is in the library, all so very Agatha Christie, and the crime scene has been interfered with. The victim was a regular house visitor, with his horse, Mr Sugar, stabled there. It is an unheard of crime, the stabbing of a member of the Catholic clergy, the horror compounded by the removal of his genitals.

Powerful influences make their mark, particularly the raw absolute power of the Catholic Church under Archbishop Dr McQuaid, there is little intention of making the true details of the murder public, with mendacious press statements that refer to the murder as an accident and there is distinct pressure to try to ensure Strafford's investigation fails. Strafford, like the Protestant Osborne, is from the same class and background, an outsider in the mainly Catholic police force, an isolated observer, alone and lonely, cut adrift, feeling out of his depth. His interior life reveals a uncertain, detached and under-confident man, dwelling on how he is in the wrong profession, that he should have been a lawyer, but there is a core within him that rebels against the cover up, driving his determination to find the killer. The case reeks of theatricalism, given the snow, the killer must have been a member of the household, all of whom are acting roles that come across as inauthentic.

Banville's focus is on revealing a detailed picture of Ireland in the 1950s, the lowly position of women, the suppression of sexuality, the turning of blind eyes to overt wrong doing, the religious and class divisions, the propensity of the powerful, individuals and institutions, like the Catholic Church, to feel untouchable, covering up abuses with impunity, and totally unaccountable. Given the spectacular fall from grace of the Irish Catholic Church in more recent times, the motivation behind the killing of Father Tom Lawless is not that hard to figure out, the author gives Lawless a voice in the narrative, providing a personal explanation of how he came to be who he is. A fascinating and engaging read of a specific period of time in Irish history. Many thanks to Faber and Faber for an ARC.

DI Strafford is called to a country house where there has been a grisly murder--a priest has been stabbed and castrated. He was obviously murdered, but the Catholic archbishop insists that the press release say only that he fell down the stairs.  We eventually learn that the priest had a disturbing predilection, ruining lives before his misdeeds finally caught up with him. The cold and snowy Irish winter is almost as much a character as the players in this atmospheric novel.. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I found Snow rather mediocre, I’m afraid.  It’s not actively bad, but it does plod, it’s not as clever as it thinks it is and there’s not much Banville brilliance in evidence.

The set-up is like a vintage Agatha Christie.  Set in December 1957, a Detective Inspector is sent from Dublin to investigate the murder of a priest in a large country house.  It is peopled by stock Christie characters - which Banville points out several times - it contains some arch references to Murder On the Orient Express and so on.  Banville “subverts” the genre with some explicit sex scenes, but otherwise it pretty much plods through a Country House Mystery plot.  It’s all terribly knowing and postmodern, but for me it did not make a good read and became pretty irritating.  Even the intimate characterisation and evocative scene-setting which I have found so involving in books like Ancient Light aren’t really there; just little sparks every so often.

The plot and motivation are very well-worn, with pointers toward priestly malfeasance very early on.  I think that by now we know that priests and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Ireland last century did some dreadful things which were covered up; as a core plot it really needs more than Banville gives it here to be other than a rehash of what we’ve read many times by now.

The book does have its moments; a scene between the Inspector and the Archbishop is very well done, for example, but even the structure is very clumsy in places, with an out-of-place monologue from a different point of view toward the end and an unconvincing epilogue.

Snow isn’t terrible by any means, but it was a bit of a slog and didn’t do much for me.  I suspect that I may have reached the end of the road with John Banville; I haven’t genuinely enjoyed a book of his for some time and I can’t really recommend this one.

(My thanks to Faber & Faber for an ARC via NetGalley.)

"Snow" is both a stock-standard police procedural, set in the Republic of Ireland in the 1950s, and a sly oddity. John Banville, a Booker Prize being one of his many achievements in the literary fiction field, has also penned seven fast mysteries set in the same milieu under his Benjamin Black penname, and one wonders why Snow did not more properly fit into that universe. I think the difference is the sensibility of Snow. Starring Detective Inspector St John Strafford from Dublin, Snow features a claustrophobic, isolated manor in the Agatha Christie or Daphne du Maurier tradition, and the murder victim, a castrated priest, creates a tableau of subterranean horrors contrasted with pristine glitz. Strafford is an engaging, capable, somewhat detached puzzle solver, Banville is a consummate wordsmith with an easy rhythm, and the plot unfolds in a well-controlled fashion. I really did feel like I was reading a mystery from my teens, albeit with a modern macabre edge. If the easy read did not translate into palpable tension, if the twist ending was not really a twist at all, if Strafford's otherness left him a cypher ... none of these spoiled a juicy period piece mystery.

This was my first time reading John Banville, but it certainly won't be my last. I'm a huge fan of golden age murder mysteries set in locations that could be a character in and of themselves. The setting here is perfect, with the seemingly angelic, beautiful snow masking a lot of the nefarious machinations at work. The characters are wonderfully eccentric and suspicious, and our protagonist is a very interesting person whose inner life reveals a melancholy that I really want to know more about. Being Irish myself, I loved the way in which the author wove in our history - the definitive lines drawn on the basis of religion and class, and even an appearance by John Charles McQuaid who is suitably unnerving. More than anything, I adored the author's use of language, description and tone - his writing is really magical. 

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Detective Inspector St John Strafford is sent to Ballyglass House, the seat of the aristocratic Osborne family, where a Catholic priest has been found castrated and murdered.
John Banville's novel is much more than just a detective story. It looks closely at the religious tensions in the Republic of Ireland in 1957, and the way in which the Catholic church sought to protect it's priests at all costs.
The author evokes a strong atmosphere of time and place and eventually reveals the true horror behind the body in the library.

A solidly written storyline, beautifully descriptive and highly absorbing. Not exactly a murder mystery, as it is fairly easy to predict the direction of the plot from very early on, however this in no way spoils a highly satisfying, quality read.

After a body is discovered in a home library, Detective Inspector St John Strafford is called in from Dublin to investigate.  The death of a highly respected priest is one that gets everyone interested.  St John struggles to pit the pieces together, but is finally able to answer all of the lagging questions. 
Overall, an ok book.  Although it did take me a bit longer to get into the book, I did find a connection to some characters and all loose ends are tied up in the end.  
Reccomended for those who enjoy darker police mystery novels. 

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Set in the Winter of 1957 (albeit with a back flip to 1947 to make the underlying themes more torrid) we have DI St John Strafford sent out from his Dublin police posting to investigate a murder in the rural County in which he was raised. It is clear from the start that this is a highly politically toxic situation he is walking into. It is not entirely clear to him whether he will be able to solve the crime; but whether he was intended to in the first place.
A supposedly popular Catholic priest - Father Tom – is reported dead in the house of a Colonel Osborne and his family. This is a Church of Ireland family, but he apparently visits regularly as he stables a horse here so he can hunt locally. Instead of returning to his home, managed by his sister, he has stayed overnight. He has been found dead in the downstairs library and has been mutilated. When DI Strafford arrives the body has clearly been moved and the place cleaned, but he still has to resolve what has happened. Pressure is on to claim an outsider is responsible, but on examination, this seems unlikely. To the reader once it becomes clear that Father Tom has been castrated, an alternative motive for the killing is clear. But this is supposed to be the time when the Church is all powerful and Clergy are not only unlikely to be killed, but will have any misdemeanours quietly covered up, even if they are reported.
DI Strafford has to walk into an unknown household and community and carry out an investigation. Nobody is seemingly inclined to be overly helpful to his investigation. The local Sergeant is off sick – suffering serious alcohol problems after the suicide of his son. It is not just the 40’s with lack of the most basic technology (access to phones, reliable cars etc) but it is a very deep winter with snow. So practicalities are an increasing challenge. Needing first to investigate the family in the house, Strafford has then to look to the staff and the wider community to build a picture. Hints will be given, but most will be covering up what may be critical information to his understanding. Overarching this Strafford is under pressure to resolve this crime fast and with the minimum of fuss or fallout.
Just because Banville is writing crime there is no loss of his extraordinary writing skills, his ability to create a deep sense of place – in this case rural Ireland in winter. His presentation is so visceral you cannot just see the places, but feel the biting cold and snow. His Strafford is a character seen before and a conflicted man, that too is shown and how it plays out with daily challenges and uncertainties. But his other characters all seem real too in their actions and reactions to others.  The apparent “reason” for the murder is only slowly revealed. But it should be remembered, too, that the reader’s suspicions or hindsight due to recent church abuse cases could be seen as a reflection of hidden or unspoken knowledge of abuses by family or community members in the book who do not talk. 
The murder and following actions while awful are not depicted in gruesome detail; the reader has to apply this which actually makes the whole tenor of the novel even more ominous. But the investigation trips off another murder and other violences so it speaks to a deeper malaise in the community and land. Strafford’s response to the whole scenario reflects the seriousness of the matter – so this is not a “light” crime read. It speaks to a desolate and dysfunctional milieu and the impact it has on people bedded in their belief that they cannot change things for the better.