A Scobie Malone Mystery
1 primary work • 3 total works
Book 15
Award-winning writer Jon Cleary's new novel featuring the popular detective Scobie Malone, in which he reveals a corrupt and ruthless conspiracy surrounding the Olympics. As Sydney prepares for its grand role as host of the next Olympic Games, Scobie Malone is confronted with solving a scam that does nothing for the city's image. Lurking beneath a facade of respectability, illicit deals are being struck and money from Hong Kong is being banked in large quantities. But whose money is it, and where is it really from? The people responsible will eliminate anyone who is a potential security risk: students and businessmen are being publicly, and privately, executed - with the same sinister, systematic style. Meanwhile Scobie's investigation is frustrated at every turn by a wall of silence as vast as the Great Wall of China, making progress impossible...until he finds the cracks which will lead him to the unexpected truth. FIVE RING CIRCUS is vintage Cleary, well-written, compulsive, entertaining and topical.
Jon Cleary's latest novel sees Scobie Malone crossing swords with a number of old adversaries following the assassination of a leading politician on the steps of the Olympic Tower. As the Sydney 2000 Games draw ever closer, the city's great and good assemble to celebrate the opening of the Olympic Tower. But the gala turns grisly when the State Premier is shot by a sniper. In his twenty years at the head of the Labor Party, The Dutchman had made any number of enemies. Rivals claimed he'd reached his sell-by date and should retire. But who wanted him out of the way badly enough to hire a hitman? And with ruthless casino boss Jack Aldwych and his son flanking the Premier at the time of the shooting, who can be sure that the hitman found his true target? As if politcal skulduggery and high-stakes gambling weren't enough to contend with, Scobie finds that his daughter Maureen, now a tabloid-TV journalist, is working the same case - with terrifying consequences.
From Australia's 'national literary institution' (Sydney Morning Herald), the latest mystery featuring homicide detective and family man Scobie Malone The time has come for Scobie Malone to leave the Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit of the Sydney police, and his last investigation could be the most bizarre case ever to cross his desk. Called in when a housemaid is found dead in a dotcom millionaire's penthouse, Scobie suspects he's dealing with a kidnap that's gone wrong. But never in his wildest dreams could he imagine just how wrong. It has come as a nasty surprise to the kidnappers, too, that their well-laid plan to grab a millionaire's girlfriend has instead netted them a millionaire. How were they supposed to know he liked slipping into the girlfriend's designer dresses when she wasn't around? To make matters worse, the dotcom bubble has burst, leaving the erstwhile millionaire in debt to the Yakuza and high on their hit list. Could it be that they are behind the kidnapping?
The trail leads Scobie to renew the acquaintance of some old adversaries, but Japanese gangsters pale into insignificance compared to the predatory ex-wife, ex-girlfriends, and ex-mother-in-law, all with an eye on their share of the spoils.
The trail leads Scobie to renew the acquaintance of some old adversaries, but Japanese gangsters pale into insignificance compared to the predatory ex-wife, ex-girlfriends, and ex-mother-in-law, all with an eye on their share of the spoils.