Victor Maskell has been betrayed. After an announcement in the House of Commons and the hasty revelation of his double life of wartime espionage, his disgrace is public, his knighthood revoked, his position as curator of the Queen’s pictures terminated. There are questions to be answered. For whom has he been sacrificed? To what has he sacrificed his life?

‘The Untouchable is an engrossing, exquisitely written and almost bewilderingly smart book . . . It’s the fullest book I’ve read in a very long time, utterly accomplished, thoroughly readable, written by a novelist of vast talent’ – Richard Ford, author of Independence Day

Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

‘Banville writes a dangerous and clear-running prose and has a grim gift of seeing people’s souls’ – Don DeLillo, author of White Noise and Libra

Freddie Montgomery has committed two crimes. He stole a small Dutch master – an unattributed painting of a middle-aged woman – from a wealthy family friend. And he murdered a chambermaid who caught him in the act, bludgeoning her to death with a hammer.

An eccentric narcissist, he has little to say about the woman he killed. He travels through life without any apparent remorse. He killed her, he says, because he was physically capable of it. It made sense to him.

However, as he narrates his testimony, there is one thing he cannot understand. One thing he would desperately like to know. Why did he want to steal the painting?

‘Remarkable’ – Ruth Rendell, author of the Inspector Wexford novels

Now part of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the very best of modern literature.

Winter 1899, and strange things are afoot. As the new century approaches, English hack writer Evelyn Dolman marries Laura Rensselaer, the daughter of a wealthy American plutocrat. But in the midst of a rift between Laura and her father, Evelyn’s plans for a substantial inheritance look to be dashed.

Arriving in Venice for their belated honeymoon at Palazzo Dioscuri – the ancestral home of the charming but treacherous Count Barbarigo – the couple are met by a series of seemingly
otherworldly occurrences, which exacerbate Evelyn’s already frayed nerves. Is it just the sea mist blanketing the floating city, or is he really losing his mind?

‘A marvellous and rewarding novelist . . . He is a magician, really.’ THE SCOTSMAN
‘Banville has a grim gift of seeing people’s souls.’ DON DeLILLO
‘The most eminent innovator in Irish fiction of the last 50 years.’ IRISH TIMES
‘One of my favourite writers alive.’ REBECCA F. KUANG
‘Banville writes prose of such luscious elegance.’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘Banville is one of my favourite writers alive.’ REBECCA F. KUANG
‘Haunting . . . compelling.’ DAILY MAIL
‘Richly atmospheric.’ IRISH INDEPENDENT
‘Suspenseful.’ OBSERVER
‘A brilliant detecting team.’ IRISH EXAMINER

He had seen drowned people. A sight not to be forgotten.

1950s, rural Ireland. A loner comes across a mysteriously empty car in a field. Knowing he shouldn’t approach, but unable to hold back, he soon finds himself embroiled in a troubling missing person’s case, as a husband claims his wife may have thrown herself into the sea.

Called in from Dublin to investigate is Detective Inspector Strafford, who soon turns to his old ally – the flawed but brilliant pathologist Quirke – a man he is linked to in increasingly complicated ways.

Praise for Snow:

‘Superb . . . crime fiction for the connoisseur.’ The Times
‘Outstanding.’ Irish Independent
‘Exquisite.’ Daily Mail
‘Compelling.’ Sunday Times
‘Superb to the last drop.’ Independent

On UK bestseller list w/e 13/11/2021-27/11/2021 for Paperback Fiction

‘Banville is one of my favourite writers alive.’
REBECCA F. KUANG

‘The repressed and sinister world of 1950s Ireland is exposed in beautiful, sometimes chilling prose.’
FINANCIAL TIMES

The richly atmospheric new Strafford and Quirke murder mystery, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Snow.

He had seen drowned people. A sight not to be forgotten.

1950s, rural Ireland. A loner comes across a mysteriously empty car in a field. Knowing he shouldn’t approach, but unable to hold back, he soon finds himself embroiled in a troubling missing person’s case, as a husband claims his wife may have thrown herself into the sea.

Called in from Dublin to investigate is Detective Inspector Strafford, who soon turns to his old ally – the flawed but brilliant pathologist Quirke – a man he is linked to in increasingly complicated ways.

Praise for Snow:

‘Superb . . . crime fiction for the connoisseur.’ The Times
‘Outstanding.’ Irish Independent
‘Exquisite.’ Daily Mail
‘Compelling.’ Sunday Times
‘Superb to the last drop.’ Independent

The Sea is John Banville’s remarkable, Booker prize-winning exploration of memory, childhood and loss.

When art historian Max Morden returns to the seaside village where he once spent a childhood holiday, he is both escaping from a recent loss and confronting a distant trauma.

The Grace family had appeared that long-ago summer as if from another world. Mr and Mrs Grace, with their worldly ease and candour, were unlike any adults he had met before. But it was his contemporaries, the Grace twins Myles and Chloe, who most fascinated Max. He grew to know them intricately, even intimately. What happened next would haunt him for the rest of his years, and shape everything that was to follow.

Part of the Picador Collection, a series celebrating fifty years of Picador books and showcasing the best of modern literature.

‘Hypnotic.’
SUNDAY BUSINESS POST

‘Crime writing of the highest quality.’
DAILY MAIL

The Sunday Times bestselling author of Snow and April in Spain returns with Strafford and Quirke’s most troubling case yet.

1950s Dublin. The body of a young woman is discovered in a lock-up garage, an apparent suicide. But pathologist Dr Quirke and Detective Inspector Strafford soon suspect foul play.

The victim’s sister returns from London to help the two men, but, with relations between them increasingly strained, and their investigation taking them back to events from the final days of the Second World War, can they join the pieces of a hidden puzzle before it’s too late?

‘Atmospheric and sinister with simmering tension . . . Once you start reading, it’s impossible to stop.’
DAILY EXPRESS

‘Addictive.’
DAILY TELEGRAPH

Readers are gripped by The Lock-Up:

***** ‘A real page-turner. . . Highly recommend!’
***** ‘Crime writing at its finest’
***** ‘Quite spectacular! John Banville is a wonderful writer’
***** ‘I had an absolute blast reading this novel. I genuinely didn’t want it to end.’

Felix Mordaunt, recently released from prison, steps from a flashy red sports car onto the estate of his youth. But there is a new family living in the drafty old house: descendants of the late, world-famous scientist Adam Godley. Felix must now vie with the idiosyncratic Godley family, with their harried housekeeper who becomes his landlady, with the recently commissioned biographer of Godley Sr., and with a wealthy and beautiful woman from his past who comes bearing an unusual request…

The Sunday Times bestselling author of Snow and April in Spain returns with Strafford and Quirke’s most troubling case yet.

1950s Dublin. in a lock-up garage in the city, the body of a young woman is discovered – an apparent suicide. But pathologist Dr Quirke and Detective Inspector Strafford soon suspect foul play.

The victim’s sister, a newspaper reporter from London, returns to Dublin to join the two men in their quest to uncover the truth. But, as they explore her links to a wealthy German family in County Wicklow, and to investigative work she may have been doing in Israel, they are confronted with an ever-deepening mystery. With relations between the two men increasingly strained, and their investigation taking them back to the final days of the Second World War, can they join the pieces of a hidden puzzle?

Praise for the Strafford and Quirke series:

‘Crime writing of the finest quality, elegant, distinctive and utterly absorbing.’ Daily Mail
‘[The Strafford and Quirke series] promises to elevate the crime novel to new artistic heights.’ Financial Times
‘John Banville is one of the best novelists in English.’ Guardian
‘Superb and shocking. . . more than a touch of genius.’ The Times

**APRIL IN SPAIN AVAILABLE NOW**