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33-508: Ken Bruen (born 1951) is an Irish writer of hardboiled and noir crime fiction . Born in Galway , he was educated at Gormanston College , County Meath and later at Trinity College Dublin , where he earned a PhD in metaphysics . Bruen spent twenty-five years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, S.E. Asia and South America. His travels have been hazardous at times, including a stint in

66-636: A TV series starring Iain Glen in the title role. His Brants and Roberts novel Blitz was adapted into a 2011 film of the same name , starring Jason Statham , Paddy Considine and Aidan Gillen . Bruen's 2014 novel Merrick was adapted for TV as the series 100 Code , starring Dominic Monaghan and Michael Nyqvist . His 2001 novel, London Boulevard , was adapted for the big screen in 2010 and starred Keira Knightley , Colin Farrell , David Thewlis and Ray Winstone . Hardboiled The style

99-614: A Brazilian jail. Bruen is part of a literary circle that includes Jason Starr , Reed Farrel Coleman , and Allan Guthrie . His works include the well-received White Trilogy and The Guards . In 2006, Hard Case Crime released Bust , a collaboration between Bruen and New York crime author Jason Starr. Bruen's short story "Words Are Cheap" (2006) appears in the first issue of Murdaland . He has also edited an anthology of stories set in Dublin, Dublin Noir . Jack Taylor's informant, named China,

132-603: A German bombing shortly after publication), and became a best-seller, leading to a publishing contract with Jarrolds Publishing and a reprint of the book. By 1945, the novel had sold over 232,000 copies in England alone (all during war-time). The Digit Books re-print of Butler's sixth novel, Choice of Two Women , published in 1960, stated that Kiss the Blood Off My Hands had sold in excess of 750,000 copies. His second novel, They Cracked Her Glass Slipper ,

165-466: A compulsion to control those with whom one shares experiences. By contrast, hard boiled 'paints a backdrop of institutionalized social corruption ' ". Gerald Butler (writer) Gerald Alfred Butler (31 July 1907 – 1 February 1988) was an English crime , thriller , and pulp writer and screenwriter. He was sometimes referred to as the " English James M. Cain ", and his characters were noted as amoral and hardboiled . His novels include

198-458: A screenplay for the film which was released in April 1948. Butler and Zampi immediately collaborated again for another Anglofilm production, Third Time Lucky ; Butler's screen adaptation of his own novel They Cracked Her Glass Slipper . Butler also wrote the lyrics to the film's theme song, "Forgive Me for Dreaming". The film which starred Glynis Johns , Dermot Walsh , and Charles Goldner

231-484: A type of crime fiction; it meant the tough (cynical) attitude towards emotions triggered by violence. The hardboiled crime story became a staple of several pulp magazines in the 1930s; most famously Black Mask under the editorship of Joseph T. Shaw , but also in other pulps such as Dime Detective and Detective Fiction Weekly . Consequently, "pulp fiction" is often used as a synonym for hardboiled crime fiction or gangster fiction; some would distinguish within it

264-640: Is a nod of the head by Ken Bruen to author Alan Hunter's original informant character named China, in the George Gently series of novels, first published in 1955. Bruen is also the recipient of the first David Loeb Goodis Award (2008) for his dedication to his art. Other works of note include The Killing of the Tinkers , The Magdalen Martyrs , The Dramatist and Priest , all part of his Jack Taylor series, which began with The Guards . Set in Galway,

297-431: Is also associated with " noir fiction ". Eddie Duggan discusses the similarities and differences between the two related forms in his 1999 article on pulp writer Cornell Woolrich . In his full-length study of David Goodis, Jay Gertzman notes: "The best definition of hard boiled I know is that of critic Eddie Duggan. In noir, the primary focus is interior: psychic imbalance leading to self-hatred, aggression, sociopathy, or

330-666: The alternative title Dark Rainbow . Farrar & Rinehart (and its successor Rinehart & Company ) went on to publish four more of his novels for the American market between 1946 and 1951: Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (March 1946), Mad with Much Heart (August 1946), Slippery Hitch (April 1949), and Blow Hot, Blow Cold (July 1951). Following the publication of his first four novels in Britain (and first one in America), Hollywood film studio Warner Brothers Pictures optioned

363-485: The Blood Off My Hands , unmade), Charles K. Feldman Group Productions ( Kiss the Blood Off My Hands , unmade), Norma Productions / Harold Hecht Productions / Universal-International Pictures ( Kiss the Blood Off My Hands , 1948), Anglofilm / General Film Distributors ( They Cracked Her Glass Slipper , made as Third Time Lucky , 1949), and RKO Radio Pictures ( Mad with Much Heart , made as On Dangerous Ground , 1951). In addition to adapting his own novel for

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396-606: The Tinkers ) and 2010 ( Tower , cowritten by Reed Farrel Coleman), both for Best Mystery Novel; Barry Award in 2007 ( Priest ) for Best British Crime Novel; the Grand Prix de Literature Policiere in 2007 (Priest) for Best International Crime Novel. He was also a finalist for the Edgar Award in 2004 ( The Guards ) and 2008 ( Priest ), both for Best Novel. Beginning in 2010, nine of the Jack Taylor novels were made into

429-744: The alternative title Blow Hot, Blow Cold ) was published in September 1951 in the United Kingdom and July 1951 in the United States (Butler's only novel to receive publication in America ahead of its British print). He withdrew from the writing industry for nearly twenty years before returning with his last novel, There Is a Death, Elizabeth , published in 1972. He died sixteen years later on 1 February 1988. Butler married his secretary, Beryl Bradley, on 27 June 1936, at Church of Saint Mary

462-588: The best-seller Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1940), as well as They Cracked Her Glass Slipper (1941), Their Rainbow Had Black Edges (1943), Mad with Much Heart (1945), Slippery Hitch (1948), Choice of Two Women (1951), and his late career come-back There Is a Death, Elizabeth (1972). His stories have been translated and published in multiple languages, including French, Swedish, German, and Finnish. Four of his novels were optioned by film production companies, including Warner Brothers Pictures ( Slippery Hitch , unmade), Eagle-Lion Films ( Kiss

495-497: The film rights to Kiss the Blood Off My Hands , hoping to shoot it with Robert Donat in the lead. After the option expired, the novel's film rights were sold to actor-turned-producer Burt Lancaster and his agent, business partner, and co-producer Harold Hecht , in mid-1947. The film was the first project for Hecht and Lancaster's new film production companies, Norma Productions and Harold Hecht Productions (financed and distributed by Universal-International Pictures ), and hit

528-488: The film version, while Jay Novello , who had a smaller part in the film, played Newton's role. Kiss the Blood Off My Hands ' screen rights were, however, challenged by lawyer-turned-agent-turned-producer Charles K. Feldman 's film production company, Charles K. Feldman Group Productions , which filed a $ 1,000,000 damage lawsuit on 1 March 1948 (two weeks before Hecht and Lancaster's film was scheduled to start shooting). Feldman claimed that his film production company owned

561-482: The film, including Butler himself, along with Universal-International Pictures, Norma Productions, Eagle-Lion Productions, Phil Berg -Bert Allenberg (Berg was Joan Fontaine's agent, who had little to do with the film but was reputable enough to attract more attention to the suit), Harold Hecht, Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine, Richard Vernon (co-producer with Hecht and Lancaster on the film), and Allan Collins (president of Curtis Brown Limited's American division). The lawsuit

594-534: The freedom to chose any story as his next starring vehicle; he picked Mad with Much Heart . Hughes assigned John Houseman as producer and Nicholas Ray as director for a film version originally titled Dark Highway . The settings of the film were changed from England to Boston and the Berkshires in New England. Hughes originally wanted Jennifer Jones as the blind girl in the film, but Ida Lupino

627-681: The mid-1990s onwards, although it is often portrayed as a force which has left Ireland as a materialistic and spiritually drained society which still harbours deep social inequality. This is the side of the Celtic Tiger best portrayed in Bruen's Ireland-based novels. Immigration is also a theme to be found in these works. Bruen is the recipient of many awards: the Shamus Award in 2007 ( The Dramatist ) and 2004 ( The Guards ), both for Best P.I. Hardcover; Macavity Award in 2005 ( The Killing of

660-555: The private-eye story from the crime novel itself. In the United States, the original hardboiled style has been emulated by innumerable writers, including James Ellroy , Paul Cain , Sue Grafton , Chester Himes , Paul Levine , John D. MacDonald , Ross Macdonald , Walter Mosley , Sara Paretsky , Robert B. Parker , and Mickey Spillane . Later, many hardboiled novels were published by houses specializing in paperback originals, most notably Gold Medal , and in later decades republished by houses such as Black Lizard . Hardboiled writing

693-510: The screen rights of his fifth novel, Slippery Hitch , for £10,000. At the time of purchase, in December 1946, the novel had yet to be published, and would be held back from publication for another year and a half, until May 1948. The novel was assigned to producer Jerry Wald 's unit at Warner Brothers Pictures, and remained in pre-production for over two years, before being abandoned by mid-1949. In early 1947, Eagle-Lion Films bought

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726-406: The screen rights to Butler's novel and demanded Lancaster and Hecht's production be shut down. He also claimed to have purchased the novel's rights from Eagle-Lion Productions, whereas, in defense, Hecht and Lancaster claimed to have procured the rights directly from Butler (through literary agency Curtis Brown Limited ). The suit named ten defendants and companies associated with the production of

759-481: The screenplay of Third Time Lucky , Butler also wrote the screenplay for the Anglofilm / Columbia Pictures movie The Fatal Night (1948), adapted from Michael Arlen 's short story, "The Gentleman from America." American radio program Lux Radio Theatre also broadcast an adaptation of Kiss the Blood Off My Hands , under the title The Unafraid , on Columbia Broadcast System in 1949. Gerald Alfred Butler

792-665: The screens in October 1948. The film starred Joan Fontaine , Burt Lancaster, and Robert Newton and was released in some markets under the titles The Unafraid or Blood on My Hands , due to objections from fundamentalist groups . A radio adaption was also made for the American Columbia Broadcast System program Lux Radio Theater , which was broadcast under the title The Unafraid in February 1949. Fontaine and Lancaster reprised their roles from

825-540: The series relates the adventures and misadventures of a disgraced former police officer working as a haphazard private investigator whose life has been marred by alcoholism and drug abuse. It chronicles the social change in Ireland in Bruen's own lifetime, paying particular attention to the decline of the Catholic Church as a social and political power. Themes also explored include Ireland's economic prosperity from

858-463: Was 33 years old when his first novel, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands , was published by Nicholson & Watson in April 1940. The novel was written as a distraction while staying in air-raid shelters while the Germans bombed London during World War II . Kiss the Blood Off My Hands was accepted by the first publisher Butler contacted, Nicholson & Watson (whose building was ironically destroyed by

891-537: Was born on 31 July 1907, in Crewe , Cheshire, England, to Harold George Butler and Eva Beatrix (née Rutt). He had two sisters, Doris Eva and Joan W.; they grew up in Muswell Hill , London. Butler worked as a chemist early in his career, before becoming a writer for the advertising and public relations firm Pritchard, Wood and Partners Limited, based on Savile Row , London, eventually becoming its director. He

924-455: Was directed by Gordon Parry and released in January 1949, distributed through Columbia Pictures (which also financed the production). In October and November 1949, Butler and his wife traveled to Hollywood to negotiate the screen rights to his fourth novel, Mad with Much Heart . The rights were scooped up by Howard Hughes via RKO Radio Pictures , who had given actor Robert Ryan

957-422: Was eventually signed (she allegedly was also an uncredited director on the film ). Although scheduled to start filming in January 1950, the production stalled for two months and once completed, the film remained unreleased for a year and a half. The picture was retitled On Dangerous Ground and eventually released in December 1951. Butler's sixth novel, Choice of Two Women (released in the United States under

990-583: Was eventually sustained in favor of the defendants by Judge Stanley Barnes at the Los Angeles Superior Court on 6 July 1948, long after filming had wrapped up. Meanwhile, producer/director Mario Zampi approached Butler in 1947 to collaborate on a film noir thriller, The Fatal Night , through his film production company Anglofilm (with financing and distribution through General Film Distributors ). Butler adapted Michael Arlen 's famous short story, The Gentleman from America into

1023-418: Was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined by James M. Cain and by Raymond Chandler beginning in the late 1930s. English writer Gerald Butler was referred to as the " English James M. Cain ", and his characters were noted as hardboiled. Its heyday was in 1930s–50s America. From its earliest days, hardboiled fiction

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1056-505: Was published in December 1941, followed by Their Rainbow Had Black Edges in July 1943, and then Mad with Much Heart in June 1945, all via Jarrolds Publishing. In November 1945, American publishers Farrar & Rinehart were the first to publish one of Butler's novels outside of England. Their first release of Butler's work was his 1943 novel, Their Rainbow Had Black Edges , issued under

1089-473: Was published in and closely associated with so-called pulp magazines . Pulp historian Robert Sampson argues that Gordon Young 's "Don Everhard" stories (which appeared in Adventure magazine from 1917 onwards), about an "extremely tough, unsentimental, and lethal" gun-toting urban gambler, anticipated the hardboiled detective stories . In its earliest uses in the late 1920s, "hardboiled" did not refer to

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