A Fifth of Bruen: Early Fiction of Ken Bruen is an omnibus of six novels, novellas, and story collections that were originally published in the early 1990s, years before Bruen was nominated for crime fiction's most coveted prize, the Edgar Award for Best Novel (for The Guards).

Includes:
Funeral: Tales of Irish Morbitities
Martyrs
Shades of Grace
Sherry and Other Stories
All the Old Songs and Nothing to Lose
The Time of Serena-May / Upon the Third Cross

All the Old Songs and Nothing to Lose is arguably Bruen's first foray into crime fiction. "The Time of Serena-May" is a heart-wrenching, semi-autobiographical story of a young couple whose first child is born with Down's Syndrome.

From the introduction by Allan Guthrie:

"Imagine, if you will, the time before Jack Taylor, the time before Brant & Roberts, the time before Serpent's Tail published Rilke on Black and Her Last Call to Louis MacNeice. Picture a bar in the west of Ireland. It's evening. Smoke hangs thick in the air. Laughter bounces from table to table. It's the Galway Arms Bar, and there's the young Ken Bruen, smiling and joking as he hands over a copy of his latest book to a brand new reader. That reader was one of the lucky ones.

"Ken Bruen's early works have been much sought after in the last few years, and they're been virtually impossible to obtain.... Until now..."

Genre: Mystery