Ken Bruen was a finalist for the Edgar, Barry, and Macavity Awards, and the Private Eye Writers of America presented him with the Shamus Award for the Best Novel of 2003 for The Guards, the book that introduced Jack Taylor. Ken received the best series award in February 2007 for the Jack Taylor novels from The Crime Writers Association of America. The Dramatist was nominated in March 2007 for a Gumshoe Award for the BEST EUROPEAN CRIME NOVEL of 2006.
Ken Bruen was born in Galway in 1951, where he now lives. After turning down a place at RADA and completing a MA in English he spent twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, S.E. Asia and South America.
The Guards, Ken's first Jack Taylor novel was published to glowing reviews in 2001 and has become a international bestseller. It was followed by The Killing of the Tinkers, The Magdalen
Martyrs and The Dramatist.
The highly acclaimed first Jack Taylor novel.
"An elegiac novel of despair and redemption. Bleak, amoral and disturbing, The Guards breaks new ground in the Irish thriller genre, replacing furious fantasy with acute observation of humanfrailty." Irish Independent
The second Jack Taylor novel, a no-holds-barred noir thriller, a whodunnit with attitude. “Irish writer Ken Bruen is the finest purveyor of intelligent Brit-noir.” The Big Issue
The third Jack Taylor novel. Traumatised, bitter and hurting from his last case, Jack has resolved to give up the finding business. However, he owes the local hard man a debt of honour and it appears easy enough: find “the Angel of the Magdalen”.
