A young woman named Mardi Jack is killed by a sniper's bullet in a Sydney apartment apparently owned by a wealthy businessman, Boru O'Brien, who has ties to seedy goings-on and to the prime minister's wife. O'Brien, the real target of the assassin, had been a cadet with Detective Inspector Scobie Malone two decades earlier, and after Jim Knoble, another police academy classmate, is also professionally shot, the mantle falls to Malone to investigate the case. Forced into hiding and afraid f...

A nun is found murdered on the steps of the Quality Couch, Sydney's most expensive house of ill repute. She is Sister Mary Magdalene, an idealistic young woman who previously had worked at a mission in Nicaragua. Detective Inspector Scobie Malone, that most human of cops, picks up the trail when he discovers that her real name was Teresa Hourigan—the illegitimate granddaughter of Fingal Hourigan, one of Australia's most powerful businessmen, who is currently entertaining some rich contras ...

It is Bicentenary year and Australia is having the party of its lifetime. Detective Inspector Scobie Malone, hero of three previous Cleary books and the most human of cops, would much rather be out on Sydney Harbor with his family, watching the fun. Instead he is on duty, investigating the murder of an aide to President Timori, who has just arrived unwanted in Australia following a coup in the Spice Islands republic of Palucca.With Timori is his glamorous wife, Delvina, a lady as f...

Australian detective Scobie Malone is asked to investigate what seems like an easy case: Norma Glaze has been strangled in her bedroom and her husband Ron has disappeared. What appears cut-and-dry on the surface is complicated by the fact that the night before involved a one-night stand and a killer with a twisted right hand.Four years later, Malone finds and arrests Ron Glaze in a bush town, but the man insists he is innocent even as the evidence makes his conviction in court a ci...

Joe Brennan is an ordinary man, all he wants is to make some money and marry his girlfriend. But when he accidentally kills a man, he has to make a terrible choice—confess or hide the body? An award-winning crime novel set in Sydney’s beachside suburb of Coogee.First published in 1950, Just Let Me Be, Jon Cleary’s third novel, was awarded the ALS Gold Medal that same year, edited and serialised in the Australian Women’s Weekly in 1954, and later adapted ...

A young woman named Mardi Jack is killed by a sniper's bullet in a Sydney apartment apparently owned by a wealthy businessman, Boru O'Brien, who has ties to seedy goings-on and to the prime minister's wife. O'Brien, the real target of the assassin, had been a cadet with Detective Inspector Scobie Malone two decades earlier, and after Jim Knoble, another police academy classmate, is also professionally shot, the mantle falls to Malone to investigate the case. Forced into hiding and afraid f...

When local solicitor Will Rockne is found in his car by his wife—shot through the head—it seems a baffling and motiveless murder. However, Scobie Malone, newly assigned to the case, has his suspicions. Despite his daughter Claire's shy romance with young Jason Rockne, Scobie and his wife Lisa's encounters with Will and Olive Rockne at school functions have always been a little disconcerting … Will had been determined to convince them that he was more than just a suburban lawyer.But...

Scobie Malone's job as a homicide cop is to try to keep murder at bay. His job as a father is to keep his family safe. Now, as the eyes of the world are turning toward his city, both of Malone's careers are in serious jeopardy. An important politician is murdered in high-profile public as his nation rushes toward center stage in the international arena. The assassination is clean and professional—and senseless on the surface. Malone knows, however, that violent death is sometimes politics'...

In 1911 in Delhi, King George V is on the brink of being crowned emperor of India. While on duty near Simla, a handsome British intelligence officer, Clive Farnol, finds a plot to assassinate His Majesty. Meanwhile, a young Bostonian reporter, Bridie O'Brady, is in town to write about the coronation. In this exotic tale of romance and intrigue, Clive and Bridie must together trek from Simla to Delhi amidst ambush attempts and a sly group of traveling companions—Indian, German, and English ...

In the heat of an Australian summer, Inspector Scobie Malone of the New South Wales police finds the body of a promising informer, Scungy Grime, floating face down in his family's backyard swimming pool. Scobie is investigating Sydney's major drug-dealing operation, and Grime's murder is a clear warning. Malone's family is put under police protection—a nightmare for Scobie, who had always been able to separate his professional obligations from his home life. But Scobie is determined not to...

It's a special occasion Down Under and the notoriously frugal Inspector Malone is taking his family to dinner at one of Sydney's finest Chinese restaurants. But their gala turns grisly when a masked assassin enters and guns down three men at a nearby table.The ante goes up when Scobie discovers that one victim was an investor in Olympic Tower, a multimillion dollar luxury project in downtown Sydney, originally intended as posh housing for the VIPs during the 2000 Olympic Games. Wit...

A nun is found murdered on the steps of the Quality Couch, Sydney's most expensive house of ill repute. She is Sister Mary Magdalene, an idealistic young woman who previously had worked at a mission in Nicaragua. Detective Inspector Scobie Malone, that most human of cops, picks up the trail when he discovers that her real name was Teresa Hourigan—the illegitimate granddaughter of Fingal Hourigan, one of Australia's most powerful businessmen, who is currently entertaining some rich contras ...