Jack Taylor Series by Ken Bruen

3.93 · 100 ratings
  • The Guards (Jack Taylor #1)
    #1

    The Guards (Jack Taylor #1)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings · published 2001

    Still stinging from his unceremonious ouster from the Garda Síochána—the Guards, Ireland’s police force—and staring at the world through the smoky bottom of his beer mug, Jack Taylor is stuck in Galway with nothing to look forward to. In his sober moments Jack aspires to become Ireland’s best private investigator, not to mention its first—Irish history, full of betrayal and espionage, discourages any profession so closely related to informing... more

  • The Killing of the Tinkers (Jack Taylor #2)
    #2

    The Killing of the Tinkers (Jack Taylor #2)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings · published 2002

    When Jack Taylor blew town at the end of The Guards his alcoholism was a distant memory and sober dreams of a new life in London were shining in his eyes. In the opening pages of The Killing of the Tinkers, Jack's back in Galway a year later with a new leather jacket on his back, a pack of smokes in his pocket, a few grams of coke in his waistband, and a pint of Guinness on his mind. So much for new beginnings... more

  • The Magdalen Martyrs (Jack Taylor #3)
    #3

    The Magdalen Martyrs (Jack Taylor #3)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings · published 2003

    Jack Taylor is walking the delicate edge of a sobriety he doesn't trust when his phone rings. He's in debt to a Galway tough named Bill Cassell, what the locals call a "hard man." Bill did Jack a big favor a while back; the trouble is, he never lets a favor go unreturned.Jack is amazed when Cassell simply asks him to track down a woman, now either dead or very old, who long ago helped his mother escape from the notorious Magdalen laundry, where young wayward girls were imprisoned and abused... more

  • The Dramatist (Jack Taylor #4)
    #4

    The Dramatist (Jack Taylor #4)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings · published 2003

    Seems impossible, but Jack Taylor is sober---off booze, pills, powder, and nearly off cigarettes, too. The main reason he's been able to keep clean: his dealer's in jail, which leaves Jack without a source. When that dealer calls him to Dublin and asks a favor in the soiled, sordid visiting room of Mountjoy Prison, Jack wants to tell him to take a flying leap. But he doesn't, can't, because the dealer's sister is dead, and the guards have called it death by misadventure... more

  • Priest (Jack Taylor #5)
    #5

    Priest (Jack Taylor #5)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings · published 2006

    Ireland, awash with cash and greed, no longer turns to the Church for solace or comfort. But the decapitation of Father Joyce in a Galway confessional horrifies even the most jaded citizen.Jack Taylor, devastated by the recent trauma of personal loss, has always believed himself to be beyond salvation. But a new job offers a fresh start, and an unexpected partnership provides hope that his one desperate vision, of family, might yet be fulfilled... more

  • The Devil (Jack Taylor #8)
    #8

    The Devil (Jack Taylor #8)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings · published 2010

    America - the land of opportunity, a place where economic prosperity beckons: - but not for PI Jack Taylor, who's just been refused entry.Disappointed and bitter, he thinks that an encounter with an over-friendly stranger in an airport bar is the least of his problems. Except that this stranger seems to know rather more than he should about Jack.Jack thinks no more of their meeting and resumes his old life in Galway... more

  • Galway Girl (Jack Taylor #15)
    #15

    Galway Girl (Jack Taylor #15)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings · published 2019

    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... more

  • Galway Confidential (Jack Taylor #17)
    #17

    Galway Confidential (Jack Taylor #17)

    Ken Bruen

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 2 ratings · published 2024

    In this new installment of Ken Bruen’s beloved Jack Taylor series, the whiskey-swigging Irish detective investigates a series of violent attacks on the local convent’s nuns.Jack Taylor wakes up from a coma to discover that much of the world has changed since he last walked the streets of Galway. The pandemic had hit while he was under, devastating the lives of many in his beloved city and beyond... more

Find similar series to Jack Taylor  ❯