Ken Bruen quotes:

Tony Black is the Tom Waits of Crime Fiction, yes, that good.

The Local Paper here asked that me books be banned........THE HIGHEST PRAISE for an Irish writer.

Let it Ride channels Elmore Leonard at the height of his powers, with dialogue Quentin Tarantino would kill for.

I was a failed actor, but for 25 years, I got to go on stage anyway, and I loved it. I've still got the day job, and the travel bug.

Jack Taylor was a private investigator in Galway, which seemed like madness. I used lots of Galway-isms, which seemed like madness, too.

The only book in our home was the Bible. My parents forbade books. They thought I needed help because I wanted to be a writer!

Whenever dark things happen in my life, there is always some dark humour.

Because I've been so bad at looking after myself, how would I ever look after a kid? But the old cliche applied: they handed her to me, and my world turned upside down - and I realised I was now going to be vulnerable in more ways than I expected.

I had wanted to write English crime novels based on the American hard-boiled style, and for the first two novels about Brixton, the critics didn't actually know I was Irish.

My own life has had so many twists that I keep thinking I'll have one blessing that is not in disguise.

Crime fiction is the new rock n' roll.

I committed a cardinal sin as a kid. I never spoke, and my mother thought there was something seriously wrong with me. A silent child is regarded as a problem in Ireland, and I just read all the time.

I decided to write books, just to prove to myself that I was still alive, if nothing else.

The tourist board have put a bounty on me head, but they like the biz from tourists.

I always had this notion of a noir novel in Galway. The city is exploding, emigration has reversed, and we are fast becoming a cosmopolitan city.

My father believed a real man didn't read, and my parents hoped I'd get some sense and find a job in insurance.

And so evil flourishes and spreads because decent people don't want to make a fuss.

I get through some print.

The writing is a joy, so seamless you nearly miss the sheer artistry of the style and the terrific, wry humour.

There'll be times when the only refuge is books. Then you'll read as if you meant it, as if your life depended on it.