I went through all the suggestions on Australian hardboiled
and sorted them out by author and distilled some of the
information provided as comments under the author's name. I
put it together for myself, but I thought maybe it might be
of some value to the group. The comments are not my own and I
have not noted who made the comments, so I hope this won't
anger anyone. Some of the comments came from another
list.
I've had some luck finding several titles, and I've ordered
about a half-dozen or so to get started. I just started
Carter Brown's THE BODY.
Thanks again to all those who contributed.
******************************************
G.G. Bleeck (mostly pseudonyms) Australian pulp fiction -
probably just as easy if you go to
http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2002/nov02/article1.html
for a bit of a summary. All of these are very very difficult
to find these days but were done in the classic pulp fiction
style - little acknowledgement of Australia in the ones I've
seen.
but the last G.C. Bleeck I got my hands on I found in my
grandfather's shed about 40 years ago and got into all sorts
of trouble when I was found reading it - so my memory's a bit
hazy now.
******************* Marc Brody Australian pulp fiction -
probably just as easy if you go to
http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2002/nov02/article1.html
for a bit of a summary. All of these are very very difficult
to find these days but were done in the classic pulp fiction
style - little acknowledgement of Australia in the one's I've
seen.
******************* Carter Brown Real name - Alan G Yates -
born in England came to Australia in around 1948
(also wrote under the name Caroline Farr). Wrote sort of
tongue in cheek mysteries set mostly in America - probably
better known in France than here for some obscure reason. I
wouldn't have called these hard-boiled by any means - not
even really noir - more lightish mystery than anything.
******************* Larry Brown FWIW, I started Larry Brown's
FAY, and didn't finish it. It's a long novel for him and his
writing from a female POV didn't work for me. OTOH, I really
liked his DIRTY WORK. Brown is a good writer.
******************* Marshall Browne He has a two-book-strong
Inspector Anders series, featuring a terrorist-tracking
Italian policeman.
******************* Jon Cleary Jon Cleary won the Edgar in
1975, then evidently vanished from the face of the earth,
perhaps because he lives in and writes of Australia. He's
still writing. Morrow publishes him in the U.S. His recent
series character Scobie Malone is on a par with Ruth
Rendell's Inspector Wexford, determined cop and amiable
observer of social change, and his books are riddled with
moral ambiguity as well as Aussie atmospherics and
social-ethnic politics.
Jon Cleary is an excellent adventure and mystery writer. I
have read only one of his thrillers, "VORTEX" and I found it
remarkable, but it may not be labeled as hardboiled. His
first novel, "YOU CAN'T SEE AROUND THE CORNERS" would fit
better in that category.
Jon Cleary won an Edgar for his novel "PETER'S PENCE".
Thriller style author - has a very large series of books
starring Scobie Malone, Police Detective in Sydney. I
wouldn't exactly say hard-boiled but quite competent thriller
/ police procedural stuff. There are a few standalones that
he's written that may be more hard-boiled but I've not been
able to find any of his earlier stuff - some of which was
written when I was much much younger.
******************* Kenneth Cook (vintage) WAKE IN FRIGHT -
Jim Thompson-esque outback novel
*******************
* Peter Corris PI Cliff Hardy. Definitely hardboiled. I
enjoyed Beware of the Dog, The Greenwich Apartments, The
Dying Trade, Deal Me Out. Writes a PI series very much in the
Chandler vein but with an antipodean accent.
Yep, I'd have to toss in my two cents here. The Cliff Hardy
series by Peter Corris, set in Sydney, are simply one of the
great current P.I. series, featuring good ol' pulp-style
action, fresh settings and enough lean, tight writing to wash
out that lukewarm, fatty taste left behind by so many of his
overly-praised and overly self-conscious (Hey, look at me,
ma, I'm writing!) American contemporaries.
And the one film I know of based on the series, THE EMPTY
BEACH, is a fine P.I. flick well worth tracking down -
nothing astounding, perhaps - but good solid fare with Bryan
Brown well cast as Hardy.
******************* John Dale (contemporary) DARK ANGEL, a
fine Sydney PI novel.
******************* Marele Day
THE LAST TANGO OF DOLORES DELGADO
Wonderful stuff written by this author - main character is
Claudia Valentine
- I'd highly recommend these - they are amusing / sort of
Marlowe in a dress style.
******************* Carl Dekker Carl Dekker's in the same
group as McCall below - except even more obscure than the
others out here.
http://www.library.adelaide.edu.au/ual/special/crime.html
******************* Garry Disher Writes a series featuring an
Australian Parker called Wyatt. Disher has also written a
stack of kids books and at least one police procedural, which
I enjoyed. I've read a couple of the Wyatts and (sorry, Rene)
I liked them, too.
******************* Peter Doyle GET RICH QUICK
Author of mysteries (often referred to as the Author of books
staring Sydney lurk merchant Billy Glasheen) - which is a
description that I thinks warrants reading these books alone.
Again a very very very Australian voice. Worth it as far as
I'm concerned.
******************* Peter Flynn
******************* John Godwin (mysterious) REQUIEM FOR A
RAT (1963) which was very good.
******************* Charlotte Jay (hb?) Beat Not The
Bones
******************* Larry Kent I think most of the Larry
Kents were actually written by a guy named Don Haring, and I
suspect they're very similar to the Carter Browns.
I think the Larry Kent you're referring to is actually a
character in a radio program that used to air in the 1950's.
Very tongue in cheek stuff. Have a look at
www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/kent.html
******************* Shane Maloney BRUSH-OFF
Wonderful - hysterically funny - silly, realistic, set in a
political arena
(in that Murray Whelan works for and ultimately becomes a
member of the Victorian Parliament). Set in inner suburbs and
surrounds of Melbourne
******************* William Marshall most of his books (the
Yellowthread series) take place in Hong Kong. The ones I have
read (THIN AIR, in particular) are very well done.
******************* K.T. McCall Australian pulp fiction -
probably just as easy if you go to
http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2002/nov02/article1.html
for a bit of a summary. All of these are very very difficult
to find these days but were done in the classic pulp fiction
style - little acknowledgement of Australia in the one's I've
seen.
******************* Bant Singer a contemporary of Carter
Brown et al. I've read the first of his Delany series, YOU'RE
WRONG, DELANY which I enjoyed greatly. Obviously influenced
by American hardboiled but still very much Australian, set in
a rural town.
******************* Caroline Shaw CAT CHASER, probably the
only hardboiled cat novel I've come across, great central
character.
******************* Peter Temple he's written a PI series
featuring Jack Irish plus standalones, one of which, IN THE
EVIL DAY, is the best thriller I've read in years.
*******************
miker
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