Mystery Author Interviews

MBTB employees David & McKenna caught up with Irish crime writer Ken Bruen to pose him a few questions we’ve been dying to ask…

D & McK: What draws you to create the self-destructive, violent, addictive protagonists, like Jack Taylor (The Guards), Falls (The White Trilogy), and Mitchell (London Boulevard)?

Ken: Rage… about the state of the world, about never being allowed to read books as a child, about what happened in South America [come to Ken’s March 24th signing to find out more about this!], about the years of being treated as not really a writer because I wrote mysteries.

D & McK: Tell us about your fascination with Ed McBain. What other authors do you read? Who among the new crop of noir novelists should we be paying attention to?

Ken: Because [McBain] is the very top echelon… his ease with dialogue, his graciousness to readers, his sheer entertaining for year on year… for books like Candyland, The Deaf Man books in the 87th Precinct, how he stays fresh still. The new bunch for me are C. J. Box, Charlie Williams, Duane Swierczynski, Allan Guthrie, Jason Starr, Reed Coleman, Jim O. Born, Lono Waiwaiole, Wallace Stroby, James Hime… all superb writers and definitely the future. [& all stocked at MBTB. – ed.]

D & McK: What attracts you to Galway (the setting of the Jack Taylor series) and South London (the setting for most everything else)? Do you have plans to set books elsewhere?

Ken: Galway is my hometown, and due to the economic boom, we’ve got mean streets, drugs, refugees, racial bigotry – bad for the country, fertile terrain for a mystery novelist. London, as it was home for thirteen years. New York, Tucson, Las Vegas are the settings for a new series, kicking off with American Skin [which is presently in search of a publisher].

D & McK: You are extremely prolific, what with fourteen crime novels since 1996. What are your writing habits? Any drugs we should know about??

Ken: The only fuel is caffeine, and I keep my drinking for Houston. I write every single day from 6:00 to 8:30 a.m., then revise at night.

D & McK: Your novels are brimming with soul, passion, and depth. To what extent are they autobiographical?

Ken: Thank you very much. They are very much the road I might have traveled… the darkness is due to my life experiences – working as a guard at the Twin Towers, etc…. the melancholy ‘cos I’m Irish, and it rains so much… the passion as I believe in what I write.

D & McK: With growing interest in films & television shows based on noir crime fiction – particularly the Rebus series by Ian Rankin, Val McDermid's Wire in the Blood, and Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River – has there been television/movie interest in any of your crime novels?

Ken: The Guards is set to go in 2005… David Soul as Jack Taylor. The White Trilogy in April with Brendan Gleeson as Brant… I hope. Her Last Call to Louis McNeice in May with The Long Good Friday screenwriter – Barrie Keeffe – at the helm.

D & McK: You were here in May ’04, making stops at Goode Co. BBQ and Kelvin Arms Scottish Pub. One final question: Lone Star or Shiner Bock?

Ken: Shiner Bock… love that stuff… wish I’d brought a crate home after meeting you guys.