Synge When You’re Winning: Two More Jack Taylor Movies Based On Ken Bruen’s Novels

Ken Bruen’s fans will be delighted to hear that there are another two Jack Taylor movies coming from TV3 in the next couple of weeks, starting on Sunday night, March 3rd, and starring Iain Glen (right) as the bould Jack. To wit:

Two new films, ‘Jack Taylor: The Dramatist’ and ‘Jack Taylor: The Priest’, which were filmed on location in Galway, will see Iain Glen (Game of Thrones), Nora Jane Noone (Deception) and Killian Scott (Love/Hate) reprise their roles, while Emma Eliza Regan (Love Eternal), Aaron Monaghan (The Other Side of Sleep), and Gavin Drea (What Richard Did) join the cast. The film series, which is based on the novels of Galway writer Ken Bruen, follow ex-garda Taylor, as he takes on cases that the Gardaí won’t. In ‘The Dramatist’, which airs on TV3 on Sunday, audiences catch up with Taylor, who against all odds, is clean and sober. While his mother resides in a retirement home, Taylor is summoned by a jailed drug-dealer who doesn’t believe the death of his younger sister was an accident. When a second murdered girl is found, Taylor receives teasing messages from a killer obsessed with John Millington Synge’s play ‘Deirdre of the Sorrows’.

  For all the details, clickety-click here …

Bruen Up A Perfect Storm

Well, it was almost perfect – Sir Kenneth of Bruen didn’t exactly sweep the boards at the Alaska Bouchercon, but he gave them a damned good polishing. First he picked up the Barry Award for Best British Novel for Priest, then went one better by claiming the Shamus (again!) in the Private Eye Writers of America’s competition, for The Dramatist. Not content with that, he then scooped a Crime Spree Magazine gong for American Skin in the, erm, Best Ken Bruen Book of the Year Award. Not bad for a Galway lad, eh? And leaving aside the semi-mythical '2nd Shamus' win, the fact that Bruen won awards for separate titles would have been a marvellous achievement in itself, except for the fact that he was nominated – along with Jason Starr – in yet another category, Best Paperback Original in the Barrys, and for yet another title, Bust. Which makes it even more wonderful than marvellous, if such a thing is possible. The big question: could it have happened to a nicer guy? We think not … The bigger question: will the achievement warrant a mention in the Irish media? Again, sadly, we think not … Meanwhile, full details of winners and losers in all categories are available at The Rap Sheet.