Ken Bruen

{{Infobox writer

| name = Ken Bruen

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption = Ken Bruen at Bouchercon, 2006

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1951|1|3|df=y}}

| birth_place = Galway, Ireland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|3|29|1951|1|3|df=y}}

| death_place = Galway, Ireland

| occupation = Novelist

| genre = Crime fiction, thrillers

| movement = Modern crime fiction, Noir

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Ken Bruen (3 January 1951 – 29 March 2025) was an Irish writer of hardboiled and noir crime fiction.

Life and career

=Education and teaching career=

Born in Galway on 3 January 1951,{{cite web|url=http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/ken-bruen/ |title=Fantasticfiction.co.uk |publisher=Fantasticfiction.co.uk |accessdate=27 February 2012}}{{cite web |title=Down the mean streets of Galway |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/jun/09/crimebooks |website=The Guardian |access-date=11 November 2023 |date=9 June 2001}} he was educated at Gormanston College, County Meath and later at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned a PhD in metaphysics.

Bruen spent twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, S.E. Asia and South America. His travels were hazardous at times, including a stint in a Brazilian jail.

=Writing career=

Bruen was part of a literary circle that also included Jason Starr, Reed Farrel Coleman, and Allan Guthrie.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

His works included the well-received White Trilogy and The Guards. In 2006, Hard Case Crime released Bust, a collaboration between Bruen and New York crime author Jason Starr. Bruen's short story "Words Are Cheap" (2006) appears in the first issue of Murdaland. He also edited an anthology of stories set in Dublin, Dublin Noir. Jack Taylor's informant, named China, was a nod of the head by Ken Bruen to author Alan Hunter's original informant character named China, in the George Gently series of novels, first published in 1955. Bruen was also the recipient of the first David Loeb Goodis Award (2008) for his dedication to his art.

Other works of note include The Killing of the Tinkers, The Magdalen Martyrs, The Dramatist and Priest, all part of his Jack Taylor series, which began with The Guards. Set in Galway, the series relates the adventures and misadventures of a disgraced former police officer working as a haphazard private investigator whose life has been marred by alcoholism and drug abuse. It chronicled the social change in Ireland in Bruen's own lifetime, paying particular attention to the decline of the Catholic Church as a social and political power. Themes also explored included Ireland's economic prosperity from the mid-1990s onwards, although it is often portrayed as a force which has left Ireland as a materialistic and spiritually drained society which still harbours deep social inequality. Immigration is also a theme to be found in these works.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

=Death=

Bruen died in Galway on 29 March 2025, at the age of 74.{{cite news |title=Popular Galway crime writer Ken Bruen has died at the age of 74 |url=https://www.galwaybayfm.ie/galway-city/popular-galway-crime-writer-ken-bruen-has-died-at-the-age-of-74-190772 |access-date=20 April 2025 |publisher=Galway Bay FM |date=30 March 2025}}

Literary awards

Bruen was the recipient of many awards: the Shamus Award in 2007 (The Dramatist) and 2004 (The Guards), both for Best P.I. Hardcover;{{cite web|title=The Shamus Awards|url=http://www.thrillingdetective.com/trivia/triv72.html|website=The Thrilling Detective|accessdate=12 February 2017}} Macavity Award in 2005 (The Killing of the Tinkers) and 2010 (Tower, cowritten by Reed Farrel Coleman), both for Best Mystery Novel;{{cite web|title=The Macavity Awards|url=http://mysteryreaders.org/macavity-awards/|website=Mystery Readers International|accessdate=12 February 2017}} Barry Award in 2007 (Priest) for Best British Crime Novel;{{cite web|title=Barry Awards|url=http://www.deadlypleasures.com/barry.html|website=Deadly Pleasures|accessdate=12 February 2017|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423032903/http://www.deadlypleasures.com/barry.html|archivedate=23 April 2012}} the Grand Prix de Literature Policiere in 2007 (Priest) for Best International Crime Novel.{{cite web|title=Crime Fiction Awards|url=http://awards.omnimystery.com/mystery-awards-grand-prix.html|publisher=Omnimystery.com|accessdate=12 February 2017}} He was also a finalist for the Edgar Award in 2004 (The Guards){{cite web|title=Edgar Award 2004 – Winner and Nominees|url=http://awardsandwinners.com/category/edgar-award/2004/|publisher=AwardsandWinners.com|accessdate=12 February 2017}} and 2008 (Priest),{{cite web|title=Edgar Award 2008 – Winners and Nominees|url=http://awardsandwinners.com/category/edgar-award/2008/|publisher=AwardsandWinners.com|accessdate=12 February 2017}} both for Best Novel.

Bibliography

=Non-series (including collections of stories)=

Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities (1991)
Shades of Grace (1993)
Martyrs (1994)
Sherry and Other Stories (1994)
All the Old Songs and Nothing to Love (1994)
The Time of Serena-May & Upon the Third Cross (1994)
Rilke on Black (1996)
The Hackman Blues (1997)
Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice (1998)
London Boulevard (2001)
Dispatching Baudelaire (2004)
American Skin (2006)
A Fifth of Bruen: Early Fiction of Ken Bruen (2006) (collection including Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities (1991); Shades of Grace (1993); Martyrs (1994); Sherry and Other Stories (1994); All the Old Songs and Nothing to Love (1994); and The Time of Serena-May & Upon the Third Cross (1994)
Once Were Cops (2008)
Killer Year (2008)
Merrick (2014)
Callous (2021)

=Jack Taylor=

The Guards (2001) – 2004 Shamus Award for Best Novel; Finalist 2004 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel; Finalist 2004 Macavity Award for Best Novel
The Killing of the Tinkers (2002) – 2005 Macavity Award for Best Novel; Finalist 2005 Anthony Award for Best Novel
The Magdalen Martyrs (2003)
The Dramatist (2004) – 2007 Shamus Award for Best Novel
Priest (2006) – 2007 Barry Award for Best British Novel; Finalist 2008 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel
Cross (2007)
Sanctuary (2008)
The Devil (2010)
Headstone (2011)
Purgatory (Aug 2013)
Green Hell (July 2015)
The Emerald Lie (September 2016)
The Ghosts of Galway (November 2017)
In the Galway Silence (November 2018)
Galway Girl (November 2019)
A Galway Epiphany (November 2020)
Galway Confidential (March 2024)
Galway's Edge (March 2025)

=Detective Sergeant Tom Brant and Chief Inspector James Roberts=

A White Arrest (1998)
Taming the Alien (1999)
The McDead (2000)
Blitz (2002), adapted for the 2011 British crime thriller film Blitz starring Jason Statham
Vixen (2003)
Calibre (2006)
Ammunition (2007)

=Max Fisher and Angela Petrakos=

Bust (2006) – Finalist 2007 Barry Award for Best Paperback
Slide (2007) – Finalist 2008 Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original{{cite web|url=http://www.bouchercon.info/nominees.html#2008 |title=Bouchercon World Mystery Convention : Anthony Awards Nominees |publisher=Bouchercon.info |date=2 October 2003 |accessdate=27 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207060829/http://www.bouchercon.info/nominees.html |archivedate=7 February 2012 }}
The Max (2008)
Pimp (2016)