A collection of novellas and stories from Shamus Award winner Ken Bruen, author of the Jack Taylor series and the "godfather of the modern Irish crime novel" (The Irish Times). An Irishman with an ebullient love of life draws inspiration from the literature and poetry of death. A born loser with an "ex-wife, an ex-child, and no excuses" accompanies his alcoholic brother on a startling plunge into liberating despair. A self-styled vigilante avenges the death of his wife and child by waging a one-man war against the London underworld. A whiskey-sotted cleric sets out to battle his sexual demons with a resolve that borders on the malevolent. "Nobody writes like Ken Bruen," says the New York Times Book Review, and here, the author of The Emerald Lie and The Guards offers a taste of his wide-ranging skills. With his acrid barstool wit, literary allusions, and gut-punching twists, Bruen captures the Irish state of mind with bracing authenticity. Now, enthusiasts of his long-running series featuring Irish PI Jack Taylor-seven of which have been adapted for the screen-and new fans alike can discover Bruen's early works in an omnibus shaded with the crazy, violent, and melancholy poetry that has become his trademark. Hailed by the Los Angeles Book Review as one of "the most original and innovative noir voices of the last two decades," Bruen is a two-time Shamus Award winner, an Edgar Award finalist, and a recipient of the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere.A Fifth of Bruen includes: Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbidities, Martyrs, Shades of Grace, Sherry and Other Stories, All the Old Songs and Nothing to Lose, and The Time of Serena May &Upon the Third Cross.