Inspector Brant is on the trail of a serial killer obsessed with sending Londoners an important message in this lightning-paced, hard-boiled noir from Ken Bruen, Calibre . Somewhere in the teeming heart of London is a man on a lethal mission. His cause: a long-overdue lesson on the importance of manners. When a man gives a public tongue-lashing to a misbehaving child, or a parking lot attendant is rude to a series of customers, the "Manners Killer" makes sure that the next thing either sees is the beginning of his own grisly end. When he starts mailing letters to the Southeast London police squad, he'll soon find out just how bad a man's manners can get. The Southeast is dominated by the perpetual sneer of one Inspector Brant, and while he might or might not agree with the killer's cause and can even forgive his tactics to some degree, Brant is just ornery enough to employ his trademark brand of amoral, borderline-criminal policing to the hunt for the Manners Killer. For if there's one thing that drives the incomparable inspector, it's the unshakeable conviction that if anyone is going to be getting away with murder on his patch, it'll be Brant himself, thank you very much. Bruen is so prolific that there is mounting evidence he could supply his own book-of-the-month club. It doesn't seem to affect his quality, though: if you like him, you'll still like him; if you don't, you still won't. Switching gears from his Jack Taylor series ( The Dramatist, 2006), Bruen returns to cops-and-robbers London and the cast of characters last seen in Vixen (2005). This postmodern crime novel pits the Ed McBain-loving antihero Sergeant Brant against a new villain, the Jim Thompson--obsessed Manners Killer. Well, against is a strong word in this morally murky universe, but one of them does have a badge. Bruen has referenced McBain's 87th Precinct series often enough that it's clear he is writing his own version, though the brutality, cynicism, and racism of the characters almost guarantee they won't reach as wide an audience. Bruen is so stinting on description that it's hard to keep some of them straight--but the completely corrupt, satanically funny Brant probably could carry the whole thing on his shoulders. Here's to the next Bruen-of-the-Month. Keir Graff Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “If you haven't discovered Bruen yet, what are you waiting for?” ― Rocky Mountain News “Suffice it to say that fans of Roddy Doyle, James Sallis, Samuel Beckett, Irvine Welsh, Frederick Exley, Patrick McCabe, George Pelecanos, Ian Rankin, and Chuck Palahniuk will all find something to like, love, or obsess over.” ― Booklist (starred review) “A Celtic Dashiell Hammett.” ― Philadelphia Inquirer “Bruen is a brilliant, lyrical, deeply moving writer who can make you laugh and cry in the same paragraph. If you like Ian Rankin, Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and the like, Bruen is definitely a writer to reckon with.” ― Denver Post Somewhere in the teeming heart of London is a man on a lethal mission. His cause: a long-overdue lesson on the importance of manners. When a man gives a public tongue-lashing to a misbehaving child, or a parking lot attendant is rude to a series of customers, the "Manners Killer" makes sure that the next thing either sees is the beginning of his own grisly end. When he starts mailing letters to the Southeast London police squad, he'll soon find out just how bad a man's manners can get. The Southeast is dominated by the perpetual sneer of one Inspector Brant, and while he might or might not agree with the killer's cause and can even forgive his tactics to some degree, Brant is just ornery enough to employ his trademark brand of amoral, borderline-criminal policing to the hunt for the Manners Killer. For if there's one thing that drives the incomparable inspector, it's the unshakeable conviction that if anyone is going to be getting away with murder on his patch, it'll be Brant himself, thank you very much. Ken Bruen has been a finalist for the Edgar and Anthony Awards, and has won a Macavity Award, a Barry Award, and two Shamus Awards for the Jack Taylor series. He is also the author of the Inspector Brant series. Several of Bruen's novels have been adapted for the screen: The first six Jack Taylor novels were adapted into a television series starring Iain Glen; Blitz was adapted into a movie starring Jason Statham; and London Boulevard was adapted into a film starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley. Bruen lives in Galway, Ireland.