Jon Cleary

Love never dies ... unless a killer intervenes. The Hotel Southern Savoy has become the reluctant host to two corpses on a single night-and homicide inspector Scobie Malone knows this investigation will be a nightmare from the moment he arrives. The first victim was the wife of the American ambassador, a slaying that will certainly have international repercussions-and worse, if the lady's dark secrets are ever revealed. But it's the second murder...

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...

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...

When the Sydney police minister's son falls twenty floors to his death, the politics of murder ripple the city like a boulder into a pool. Caught in the wash is Detective Inspector Scobie Malone, as he uncovers an elaborate financial scheme, a series of cold-blooded precision killings, and layers of political intrigue. Scobie thinks he is immune to politics, but he is soon engulfed in its consequences: the police minister applies pressure, a millionaire...

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,...

The time is the last two weeks of peace in the summer of 1939. The place is Berlin, the most brilliantly lit city in Europe. Cathleen O'Dea has come from Hollywood to Germany to star in a film. But that is not the real purpose of her visit. She is in Berlin to trace her missing mother. As Europe plunges towards war, we become enthrallingly involved in Cathleen's story-and the story of Admiral Canaris, as he agonizes over a secret he has uncovered;...

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...

In 1966 Sir Walter Springfellow, head of Australian intelligence, vanished mysteriously and without a trace. As a young constable, Scobie Malone investigated the disappearance. Years later some bones are found up in the hills which are presumed to be Sir Walter's, and Detective Inspector Malone finds himself back on the case. His first task is to break the news to Venetia Springfellow, Sir Walter's glamorous widow, whose ruthless ambition has made...

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...