Deal Me Out
Page 19
THE BIG DROP
Peter Corris
A client happens to fall from the twentieth storey of a building; a rock star goes missing; an erotic Mongol scroll vanishes; a film star has a problem that has nothing to do with creativity – it’s all in a day’s work for Cliff Hardy.
Yachts dance on the sparkling waters of the harbour, and the back alleys are busy; the city’s high and low classes go about their daily business. But nothing really surprises Hardy; and, for a hundred and twenty-five dollars a day (plus expenses), he’ll provide a few surprises of his own …
‘Peter Corris is turning out some of the most entertaining fiction in Australia today …’
The Age
Published by Unwin Paperbacks.
THE EMPTY BEACH
Peter Corris
It began as a routine investigation into supposed drowning.
But Cliff Hardy, private detective, soon found himself literally fighting for his life in the murky, violent underworld of Bondi.
The truth about John Singer, black marketeer and poker machine king, is out there somewhere – amidst the drug addicts and prostitutes and alcoholics. Hardy’s job is to stay alive long enough in the world of easy death to get to the truth.
The truth hurts …
‘… a fine, tightly-controlled story.’
West Australian
MAKE ME RICH
Peter Corris
Cliff Hardy is at the party to look after the paintings and throw out the drunks – gently.
But there he meets Helen Broadway, who interests him; and Paul Guthrie, who wants Hardy to look for his step-son, Ray. Hardy delves into the sleazy world of Kings Cross backstreets and lowdown pubs, following a twisting path laid by a hitman, a criminal with heavy political protection, and a seedy alcoholic member of his own profession. There’s scarcely enough time for Helen Broadway, interesting though she still is.
Hardy pushes on to the final confrontation. It’s rough: the guns are out, and the odds are no help…
‘… there is nothing random or haphazard about the way Corris tells his story; it is a piece of masterly, disciplined and highly effective narrative.’
The Australian
Published by Unwin Paperbacks.
HEROIN ANNIE
Peter Corris
Cliff Hardy in action again: trying to keep one step ahead of his client’s troubles – and his own.
He has to cope with the brute force exercised in sleazy back streets to the more refined form of violence to be found in the boardroom of city skyscrapers. Along the way he has to deal with everyone from fashion models and teenaged junkies to urban developers and crooked funeral directors. Some are friendly and helpful, some try to kill him …
Hardy copes, with his guts and his savvy, and all for a hundred and twenty five dollars a day (plus expenses)…
Published by Unwin Paperbacks.
THE WINNING SIDE
Peter Corris
The Winning Side is a moving and compassionate account of a man caught between two worlds.
Charlie Thomas, born in a humpy camp to Aboriginal parents in the 1920’s, learns to fight early. He fights in the backblocks of Queensland during the Depression, and in the Middle East and Pacific in World War Two.
As a decorated veteran, he fights on in the cities and the country against racial prejudice, authority and his own weaknesses. He has to fight; white Australia tries to keep him on the losing side- in the boxing tents, pubs and gaols.
Charlie Thomas fights for education, justice, hope and love – to make his side the winning side.
Published by Unwin Paperbacks.
ROOM TO MOVE
Women’s Short Stories
These thirty-two short stories have been selected by Suzanne Falkiner to present a balanced collection of modern writing by Australian women. They include a selection of some of Australia’s best known names (Jolley, Astley, Zwicky) through to the most promising emerging writers (Garner, Sperling, Viidikas, Grenville) and some of the more avant garde and experimental of the new voices (Inez Baranay, Jeri Kroll, Finola Moorhead). A proportion, including those of Garner and Zwicky, have never been published before. Most have had previous publication in small magazines, and have been selected by their authors as among those they most wish to perpetuate.
Published by Unwin Paperbacks.
FLESH IN ARMOUR
Flesh in Armour is the graphic and compelling story of what it was like to be a soldier in the bloodbath of World War One.
The vast and chaotic landscape of the Western Front is seen through the eyes of three Australian soldiers: Frank Jeffreys, sensitive and unable to bear the strains of war; Charl Bently, untroubled by the complexities that surround them all; and Jim Blount, who finds his true self – and dies in action.
It is a novel of heroic deeds – and the sheer struggle for survival in the senseless carnage of Europe at War.
Leanard Mann fought in the mud and destruction of Flanders, and this unerringly accurate novel bears the unmistakable ring of truth.
Published by Unwin Paperbacks.
SHALLOWS
Tim Winton
On the south coast of Western Australia a battle has begun.
Conservationists and whalers confront each other on the seas, townspeople bicker and connive in the streets, while, in the midst of it all, a marriage collapses and an old man, stalked by death, flees his past and the God of his forefathers.
This complex and ambitious novel won Tim Winton the 1984 Miles Franklin Award, confirming him as one of Australia’s most promising literary talents.
‘Shallows is a profound and inspiring work of fiction.’
David Myers, The Age
‘I finished this book with a rare sense of elation.’
Donna Sadka, West Australian
‘… his fiction is full of care, in all three senses – of craftsmanship, of moral concern, and of a sobriety before the facts of life.’
Don Anderson, National Times
BIRDS OF PASSAGE
Brian Castro
Birds of Passage is the powerful and haunting story of Seamus O’Young, an Australian-born Chinese, on a collision course with the past.
He reconstructs his past through the eyes of Shan, an ancestor who came to Australia in the 1850’s. And, just as Shan was driven from the goldfields by depravity, racism and sheer greed; so Seamus finds himself, a century later, fighting for his own life and sanity.
Birds of Passage was a joint winner of the 1982 Australian/Vogel Literary Award.
AL JAZZAR
Suddenly, the Middle East is teetering on the brink of all-out war – and this time, it may be too late to pull back…
• The leadership of the PLO has been swept aside by one of the new breed of guerilla fighters – the sophisticated and ruthless AL JAZZAR (The Butcher).
• Simultaneous PLO attacks in Jordan and France unleash a bitter struggle to overthrow the Hashemite monarchy, and raise the spectre of uncontrolled terrorism raging through European capitals.
• A Russian spy is exposed at the heart of the Israeli government – shaking the Jewish state to its very foundations.
In the midst of all this, Israel is threatened with a desperate, bloody battle for survival against forces which seek the complete liberation of all Palestine…
As AL JAZZAR surges towards its savage, unexpected conclusion, this alarmingly believable novel shows that in the volatile world of Middle East politics, nothing can be taken for granted…
AL JAZZAR was joint winner of the Australian/Vogel Award for 1981.
Published by Unwin Paperbacks.
MATILDA, MY DARLING
Nigel Krauth
Matilda, My Darling is a stirring and imaginative story, set amid the turmoil and tension of the shearers’ strike of the 1890’s.
Private detective Hammond Niall begins what he thinks is a routine investigation into a bush murder. But he and his travelling companion, ‘Banjo’ Paterson, are
soon caught up in a world which seems to be sliding into civil war.
As the plot unfolds against this background of violence and confrontation the murder investigation becomes an enquiry into the very basis of the society of the day. And for Paterson, the period means both the trauma of the end of his engagement – and the writing of ‘Waltzing Matilda’.
Matilda, My Darling was a joint winner of the 1982 Australian/Vogel Literary Award.
Table of Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
COPYRIGHT PAGE
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
THE BIG DROP
THE EMPTY BEACH
MAKE ME RICH
HEROIN ANNIE
THE WINNING SIDE
ROOM TO MOVE
FLESH IN ARMOUR
SHALLOWS
BIRDS OF PASSAGE
AL JAZZAR
MATILDA, MY DARLING