CLIFF HARDY Series

Vintage Cliff Hardy, as Australia s favourite private eye finds himself literally fighting for his life in the murky violent underworld of Bondi. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' CLIFF HARDY CLASSICS The early 1980s found Cliff Hardy well established as a private investigator but still battling his demons. He has quit smoking and moderated his drinking. The memory of his brief marriage still haunts him along with other ghosts from his past. A case in Bondi attracts him as an ex-surfer and admirer of the suburb. It began as a routine investigation into a supposed drowning. But Hardy soon finds 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, prostitutes and alcoholics. Hardy's job is to stay alive long enough in that world of easy death to get to the truth. The truth hurts. PRAISE FOR THE EMPTY BEACH 'A fine, tightly controlled story.' West Australian

A collection of gripping short stories in the Cliff Hardy series from highly successful Australian crime fiction writer, Peter Corris. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Cliff Hardy is in action again: trying to keep one step ahead of his client's troubles - and his own. He goes from sleazy backstreets to boardrooms in skyscrapers - dealing with everyone from fashion models and teenage junkies to urban developers and crooked funeral directors. Some are friendly, 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).

A riveting novel in the Cliff Hardy series from highly successful Australian crime fiction writer, Peter Corris. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Is brilliant young filmmaker Carmel Wise the innocent victim of gangland violence or is she enmeshed in a pornography racket as the press and the police imply? Carmel's businessman father hires Cliff Hardy to find the real reason 'the video girl' was shot dead outside the Greenwich Apartments in Kings Cross. Hardy follows a trail which is broken but clear - houses and flats with the power on and the rent paid, stand empty; photographs and other documents lead to Lionel Darcy, owner of the Champagne Cabaret; banks and business houses will supply just enough information to keep Hardy warm. The trail takes him to the sunny peninsula, leafy Lane Cove and the industrial waterfront. Hardy finds that every question and every answer has to be paid for in pain and fear. And to some questions there may be no answers at all. 'Indigenous thrillers are better than any others, and the best of all are Peter Corris' accounts of his Sydney private detective, Cliff Hardy.' - Mark Thomas, Canberra Times

In this gripping novel from highly successful Australian crime fiction writer Peter Corris, Cliff Hardy's reluctant status as 'security consultant' to a politician takes him to Washington DC where the threats are real and the rules are different. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Politician Peter January is having trouble staying alive so he hires Cliff Hardy to help him. Hardy dislikes the role of politician's 'security consultant' but he dislikes bombers, hit men and hatemailers even more. Protecting January leads to protecting his assistant, Trudi Bell, which is a more enjoyable assignment. It also takes Hardy to Washington DC where the threats are real and the rules are different. To stand close to January is to stand close to danger and corruption, but there are even greater evils and Hardy cannot back away. 'Cliff Hardy is. as Australian as two-up and Fosters.' - The Australian

A thrilling novel in the Cliff Hardy series from highly successful Australian crime fiction writer, Peter Corris. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Cliff Hardy starts out to help a friend but before long he's looking for an enemy - William Mountain: boozer, TV scriptwriter, would-be novelist who is missing and searching for adventure. Mountain's adventure is Hardy's 'case' which rapidly becomes a case he would rather not have. Mountain is the dealer in a deadly game and the hands he deals become more and more bizarre. 'Indigenous thrillers are better than any others, and the best of all are Peter Corris' accounts of his Sydney private detective, Cliff Hardy. Corris' story is clever, his asides wry, his language rough but whimsical.' - Mark Thomas, Canberra Times '.Of Peter Corris it can be said ''One sentence and the reader is away.''' - Manning Clark, The National Times 'Cliff Hardy is. as Australian as two-up and Fosters.' - The Australian

A fast-paced and entertaining collection of stories featuring Australia's favourite PI, Cliff Hardy. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' I was starting to get interested. As someone who thinks stockmarkets, futures trading and currency speculation ought to be illegal, I was aware that I was radically out of step with the times. I dimly grasped what Marriott was saying, enough to understand that it sounded like being allowed into the mint with a U-haul van.' Cliff Hardy is no financial genius. But in Taking Care of Business he pursues white collar crime with the same doggedness he applies to his more downmarket villains. Hardy's tasks are many and his clients are from all walks of life. He is minder for Thomas Whitney, the highly strung whistle blower, whose company is siphoning money off through Vanuatu. He is hired by computer genius Charles Marriott, whose shady dot com partner wants control of the business and is letting nothing and no one get in his way. And ever keen for some spare cash, he even takes a case from Spiro, his local florist, whose son seems to be involved in some very dodgy business involving tobacco and big bucks. This collection of stories featuring Australia's favourite PI is fast-paced and entertaining. It reads in the best Corris style. Hardy is a wonderful creation still, under Corris's magisterial narrative control, capable of those odd echoes and resonances, the elegiac interludes that characterise the best crime writing.' Graeme Blundell, The Weekend Australian There has been no more efficient, entertaining and amusing writer of detective thrillers in Australia than Peter Corris.' The Age

Peter Corris' latest crime classic sees Private Investigator Cliff Hardy leaving the mean streets of Sydney for the Illawarra escarpment, and a gripping combination of a mysterious death, a missing child and a complex trail of violence and police corruption. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Wealthy Frederick Farmer died when his weekender burned to the ground. Death by accident, the police found. But his daughter, Dr Elizabeth Farmer, a feisty academic who resembles the younger Germaine Greer, hires Cliff Hardy to investigate. Is her only motive jealousy of her father's attractive second wife, now very rich? Hardy's search takes him from the Illawarra escarpment to Wollongong and Port Kembla, and the police are far from co-operative as he tries to unravel the truth. He has his hands full when a panic-stricken call leads to a second case the search for the precocious daughter of Marisha Karatsky, an exotic, dark-eyed interpreter who gets well and truly under Hardy's guard. Hardy has narrow escapes and people die as his probing hits nerves. Corrupt cops, compromised insurance agents, feral bikies as well as a few good guys are drawn into the maelstrom. Hardy battles on through personal turmoil and vicious opposition with all outcomes uncertain and justice a remote ideal. 'I don't know how many Cliff Hardy novels there are, but there aren't enough.' - Kerry Greenwood, The Sydney Morning Herald 'Hardy is a wonderful creation still, under Corris's magisterial narrative control, capable of those odd echoes and resonances, the elegiac interludes, that characterise the best crime writing.' - Graeme Blundell, The Weekend Australian 'There has been no more efficient, entertaining and amusing writer of detective thrillers in Australia than Peter Corris.' - The Age

Peter Corris' world weary but always charismatic hero Cliff Hardy has long been established as Australia's favourite investigator. Often bloodied but never bowed in this latest gripping novel, Hardy is in pursuit of missing millions from Sydney to the Pacific Islands. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' When rich, attractive Lorraine Master hires Cliff Hardy to investigate the circumstances surrounding her husband's conviction for smuggling heroin from New Caledonia, Hardy welcomes the assignment. A week on generous expenses sniffing about under a tropical sky, escape from a cold, dry spell in Sydney just the job. But Stewart Master's mates in Noumea prove to be a difficult and dangerous bunch. The danger follows Hardy back to Sydney where he and his client become targets when an intricate conspiracy goes seriously wrong. Hardy deals with a tricky lawyer, a man on the run and Sydney's most corrupt ex-cop. He has allies as well, but in the end his survival will depend on his own guts, experience and savvy. Peter Corris's world weary but always charismatic hero Cliff Hardy has long been established as Australia's favourite investigator. Often bloodied but never bowed in this latest gripping novel, Hardy's legions of fans will relish another pacy adventure, branching further afield than his traditional mean streets territory to the steamy island paradise of French New Caledonia. 'There has been no more efficient, entertaining and amusing writer of detective thrillers in Australia than Peter Corris.' - The Age

The indefatigable Cliff Hardy helps out an old police mate with an unresolved case, involving dodgy doctors, an illegitimate child and a violent confrontation. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Frank Parker, retired senior policeman and Cliff Hardy's long time friend, has a problem. A case from early in his career involving two doctors, one of whom was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill the other and went to gaol for the crime, is coming back to haunt him. The convicted, now dead doctor may have been innocent, and Parker had been the lover of the beautiful Catherine Castiglione, the doctor's wife. Hardy tracks back through the now ageing names and faces, trying to tease out the truth. If the doctor was set up, who was responsible and why? Along the way Hardy encounters dodgy plastic surgeons, a broken-down ex-copper, a voyeuristic cripple and a hireling who wields a mean baseball bat. A charismatic player is the son of Catherine Castiglione, a super-bright charmer, who just may be Frank Parker's love child. Animosities, arrogance and ambition create a spider's web around the violence that breaks out as Hardy searches for the spider.

Australia's favourite PI, Cliff Hardy is back in a story set against the backdrop of a Federal election campaign. 'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' When journalist Louise Kramer hires Cliff Hardy to find Billie Marchant, Hardy heads for unfamiliar territory of the far south-western suburbs of Sydney. Billie claims to have information about media big-wheel Jonas Clement -- the subject of an incriminating expose by Kramer. Clement doesn't want Billie found and Clement's enemies want to find her first. Hardy tracks Billie down, but saving Billie' means not only rescuing her, it means saving her from herself. Billie, ex-stripper, sometime hooker and druggie, is a handful. Hardy gets help from members of the Pacific Islander community and others, but the enemies close in and he is soon fighting on several different fronts. Clement and his chief rival, Barclay Greaves, have heavies in the field, and Hardy has to negotiate his way through their divided loyalties. Some negotiations involve cunning but others involve guns. The action takes place against the backdrop of the Federal election campaign, and all outcomes are uncertain. 'I don't know how many Cliff Hardy novels there are, but there aren't enough.' - Kerry Greenwood, Sydney Morning Herald 'Hardy is a wonderful creation still, under Corris's magisterial narrative control, capable of those odd echoes and resonances, the elegiac interludes, that characterise the best crime writing.' Graeme Blundell, Weekend Australian