Seventh instalment of my crime fiction alphabet,
G is for....
Galway..... the setting for Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor series of books. And also a place with many fond memories of childhood holidays enjoyed with cousins in Salthill.
For other Galway crime see also Derval McTiernan - The Ruin and David Pearson's The Galway Homicides series
Bruen is Galway's main man though. It's well regarded Irish noir and a 15 long book series, of which I've only read a couple - the first two many years ago, long before I started recording my half-baked thoughts on books ....... The Guards and The Killing of the Tinkers
Galway Girl is the latest entry and dropped last year. OCD reader that I am, I've a bit of catching up to do.
Jack Taylor has never quite been able get his life together, but now he has truly hit rock bottom. Still reeling from a violent family tragedy, Taylor is busy drowning his grief in Jameson and uppers, as usual, when a high-profile officer in the local Garda is murdered. After another Guard is found dead, and then another, Taylor's old colleagues from the force implore him to take on the case. The plot is one big game, and all of the pieces seem to be moving at the behest of one dangerously mysterious team: a trio of young killers with very different styles, but who are united their common desire to take down Jack Taylor. Their ring leader is Jericho, a psychotic girl from Galway who is grieving the loss of her lover, and who will force Jack to confront some personal trauma from his past.
As sharp and sardonic as it is starkly bleak and violent, Galway Girl shows master raconteur Ken Bruen at his best: lyrical, brutal, and ceaselessly suspenseful.
G is for .....
Guns
Ed McBain's 1976 book Guns was enjoyed a few years ago..... thoughts here
Colley Donato loved guns. Even more than his women. He was sixteen when he first shot a guy – with an Astra Firecat pistol.
Brought up in Harlem, he lived amongst the hookers, pimps and junkies. A gun wasn’t a luxury, it was a necessity. Folks either liked you or killed you.
For the liquor store job he used his .38 Detective’s Special. Killed a cop in the process and wished he hadn’t.
Being on the run, even for a pro like Colley, Cops everywhere. Sure, ex-stripper Jeanine helped him as did his old friend Benny, a pimp from the Bronx.
But in the end, it was all down to him. And he knew it……
McBain is better known for his long running 87th Precinct series of books, but to date all I've read from him are few standalone novels and one entry in his Matthew Hope lawyer series.
Maybe 2020 I'll see what I've been missing.
Ray Banks' Gun still sits on the kindle patiently waiting its turn
It's a simple enough job for a very dangerous man - go to the Leam Lane estate, pick up a converted air pistol from a guy called Florida Al, bring it back in one piece. But Richie - fresh out of the YOI and about to be a dad - has just lost the gun to a bunch of young thugs. And Goose isn't the kind of bloke who gives second chances ...
Hat tip to Paul D. Brazill's Guns of Brixton!
G is for......
Sue Grafton. Grafton, sadly passed a year or two ago. She was steadily working her way through her own crime fiction alphabet in the company of her series character Kinsey Millhone.
Y is for Yesterday is where the series ended.
To date I've enjoyed A is for Alibi
I ought to dust off B is for Burglar soon.
Wise-cracking, female private investigator, Kinsey Millhone, is hired to find a missing sister. However, when the trail leads to Florida, Kinsey finds herself caught up in a dangerous case involving fire-raising, burglary and murder.
Previous entries
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - A IS FOR.... AX, ABBOTT, ABERDEEN
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - B IS FOR ....... BOSTON, BIRD, BONES
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - C IS FOR.........CAPE TOWN, CONFIDENCE MEN, CROSS
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - D IS FOR ....... DETROIT, DISHER, DEAD
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - E IS FOR ....... EDINBURGH, EXCESS, ELLIS
CRIME FICTION ALPHABET - F IS FOR ....... FLORIDA, FRANCIS, FLOATERS
As soon as you mentioned Galway, I thought of the Jack Taylor stories, Col. Bruen really does infuse them with a strong sense of place, doesn't he? And I hope you'll be able to read more of the Grafton series. I'll be interested in what you think of it as you go along with it.
ReplyDeleteMargot I hope I can read some from both Taylor and Grafton this coming year.
DeleteHm: The McTiernan and the Banks look tempting . . .
ReplyDeleteYou have a long Grafton voyage ahead of you. Hope you enjoy it!
I'm more drawn to the Banks myself, but you never know. Grafton - one of many I ought to get stuck into.
DeleteThis reminds me I still have to read Sue Grafton.
ReplyDeleteJoin the club. I am one ahead of you though!
DeleteI am way behind on the Jack Taylor series. I have only read the first one. I did read the first three in the Tom Brant series, and liked those a lot. But I have read 6 or 7 of the Kinsey Millhone series. I should read more of them because they are set in a town like Santa Barbara.
ReplyDeleteI loved Bruen's other series. I'm hoping Jack Taylor grows on me. Ditto Kinsey Millhone.
DeleteCol: I loved the early letters of the alphabet from Grafton. I read all of them through "V". The last half dozen letters I read were average. I am not sure if I will complete reading the last few letters she wrote. I was glad her family decided not to have another author finish the alphabet.
ReplyDeleteBill, I'm kind of glad also that they've let the series rest where she got to. I wonder if they will reconsider in the coming years, hopefully not. I suppose it not surprising that there might be an odd dip between books, but a few average in a row, doesn't fill me with extreme optimism for reaching the latter stages of Grafton's alphabet.
DeleteYou've got a long way to go with Grafton!
ReplyDeleteI like your Galway books - my mother's family comes from that area, and I have read the Dervla McTernan book.
I know Moira. I could probably say the same applies for a lot of author on my shelves. No real family history for me with Galway historically. Both sides of my family were out and out Dubliners. An aunt, uncle and cousins moved there in the early 70s from Belfast.... at the time not a great place for a young family.
Delete