About Jack Taylor

He’s tough and he doesn’t play by the rules. He drinks too much and has a quick temper. He’s a brilliant detective but he has a whole heap of hang-ups and grudges. So far, so formulaic it would seem, but Jack Taylor rises above the familiar set-up with superior storylines, superb performances, authentic attention to detail and the atmospheric setting of Galway, in the West of Ireland.

As a cop on the Garda Síochána (Irish police force), Jack Taylor was always pushing things a bit too far. His comeuppance finally came in the shape of a politician he stopped for a traffic violation - things got a little heated and Jack was fired from the Garda for assault.

With a rare gift for spotting clues and sniffing out suspects and, frankly, no other employment prospects, Jack decided to turn private eye even though it's considered a disreputable trade in Ireland. As Jack says, "It's too close to being an informant - a dodgy concept".

So Jack gets cracking on the less-than-glamorous cases that the police simply can't or won't look into and soon he's making a name for himself as the go-to private investigator for taking on vigilantes or tracking down killers. Of course, even a maverick loner needs help from time to time, and Jack relies on his enthusiastic sidekick Cody Farraher as well as a network of contacts, including some of his former colleagues on the police force, most notably Officer Kate Noonan.

Look out criminals. There's a new guardian in Galway. His business is mean and he means business.