The Book of Evidence is a 1989 novel by the Irish writer John Banville. The book is narrated by Freddie Montgomery, a 38-year-old scientist, who murders a servant girl during an attempt to steal a painting from a neighbour. Freddie is an aimless drifter, and though he is a perceptive observer of himself and his surroundings, he is largely amoral. Many of the characters in The Book of Evidence appear in the 1993 sequel Ghosts.