Dual timeline novel set around the world
Historical crime novel set in County WEXFORD
5th December 2025
Snow by John Banville, historical crime novel set in County Wexford.
The novel is set in the Winter of 1957.
The highly respected and seemingly popular local priest (Father Tom Lawless) has been found dead, stabbed to death (with an element of mutilation to the genital area), at the country seat of the Osborne family. DI St John Strafford has been brought in from Dublin to investigate. It is clear that this is murder but because the priest is Catholic and the Osbornes are Protestant, there is not only the crime to manage but also intricacies of religious sensibilities. Strafford is the man for the job but the word from Dublin is that the event should be publicised as an ‘accident’. There are clearly deeper and presently unfathomable issues at the heart of this case, and the powers-that-be have sent Strafford, who is not a puzzle solver, more of a trudger, and therefore a strange choice to get the case solved.
“..they may be gentry, but one of them did for that priest…”
There was no sign of a break-in. And then as he goes about his business with his sidekick, Sergeant Jenkins in
tow, Strafford notes that somehow, the people in and around the house are a curious bunch: “Everyone seemed to be in costume, seemed to be dressed for a party’” whilst also demonstrating some odd behaviours. The author really captures the sense of strangeness and foreboding, almost Gothic in its rendering. He is staying at the local pub which gives him time to process and accumulate the local gossip. And of course the blowing, swirling snow, black ice and inclement temperatures add to the frisson of the unfolding story.
There is learning to be had around society back then, about the co-existence. of religious folk and notions of difference – “Bushmills was supposedly the whiskey favoured by Protestants, while Jameson’s was the Catholics’ choice” (who knew!).
The story progresses and gets darker but this element isn’t over-powering. This is more of an exploration of attitudes and motives rather than a cracking whodunnit, all blended with insights into culture of the times. A few questionmarks remain tantalisingly at the end. As with April In Spain, I enjoyed it mainly for the eloquent writing rather than for any cracking twists and turns usually found in a murder mystery.
Tina for the TripFiction Team
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