Banville’s sojourn into genre territory

The problem with Publishers Marketplace deal reports is that they often appear weeks, if not months, after a deal is brokered. So there’s no telling when Ed Victor actually made the deal with Pan Macmillan’s Andrew Kidd for John Banville’s next project, but it’s likely that this occurred before his surprise Booker win due to how unbelievably commercial it sounds.

According to the deal writeup, Banville — using the handy pseudonym of Benjamin Black — will launch a new series featuring a Dublin pathologist by the name of Quirke. In the first installment, QUIRKE, due out about a year from now) our hero will investigate “a murderous plot at the heart of the Catholic establishment of Dublin and Boston.” I’ll make a gander and suspect it’ll have a little bit to do with the Church’s ongoing child abuse scandal, but then again, maybe not.

It does beg the question of whether this series will actually start on time, now that Banville-as-Banville’s popularity is soaring thanks to the Booker. There’s also the bigger question of how he’ll approach genre fiction, considering his literary pedigree. But considering that one of my first thoughts after reading one of the many, many post-Booker reports (which included a capsule summary of THE SEA) was to wonder what would happen if he tried to write a crime novel…guess I’m about to get my wish.

And just to add a new wrinkle to the proceeds, Banville only recently switched over to Victor for his new work. His previous output — including THE SEA — is repped by Anthony Sheil, whom Banville thanked from the stage when accepting his Booker Prize.

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