Allen Unwin imprint: 1774 books

'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' It's been twenty years since Cliff Hardy saw his ex-wife Cynthia, and he's amazed to get a phone call from her. Cyn is dying of cancer and she's desperate to get in touch with the daughter she gave up for adoption - the daughter who, she confesses,...

'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' When Todd Barnes, war veteran and popular drinking mate, leaves Cliff Hardy a tidy sum to find out who killed him, Hardy can hardly refuse - and he needs the money. Todd's widow and some of his cronies are not always cooperative, however, and it's...

'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Although the meaner streets of inner Sydney are his traditional stamping grounds, Cliff Hardy finds that crime can flourish in the leafy, well-heeled outer suburbs as well. Lugarno may be an unlikely centre for drug dealing and corruption but the...

Ariel had never met anyone who had returned from the Island. Still, her mother said it was a beautiful place, with shiny sand and ancient caves. There was some kind of school there, too, where characters went to learn their proper roles in life. But Concetta had always been a little vague. Deliberately,...

'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Cliff Hardy is distracted by a romantic entanglement, but low on funds, and with his private investigator's licence restored, he is persuaded to take on a dubious case - a scheme to claim the reward on an abduction. When one of those involved is...

'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' Cliff Hardy goes to Leichhardt gym proprietor Wesley Scott for a 'fitness assessment' and is soon trying to get his son Clinton - known as The Black Prince - back on the rails. A sports star in the making and destined for the top, Clinton is obsessed...

In her final year at school, Caitlin meets Fraser, a Satya Deva devotee, on the bus. Her life is instantly changed, and she gives up everything to be with him and to follow his faith. Her past means nothing to her - all that matters is that she is with her new family, a family who can give her what...

Jimmy Brockett is an example of that rare species, the Australian political novel. First published in 1951, the book tells the story of a rogue entrepreneur who builds his fortune in boxing, newspapers and racing. Dal Stivens paints a vivid picture of political corruption, bribery and the manipulations...

Against the scarred landscape of contemporary Australia, eight childhood friends seek their individual destinies: Alex, ambitious but melancholy; Cleve, snatched by the state from his parents; Danny, his twin brother, who has spent more of his life in custody than free; Elspeth, the heiress seeking...

Return to Moondilla tells the story of former journalist, Greg Baxter, who's recently returned to the Moondilla area he grew up in to finish writing what he hopes will be a bestselling novel. Far from being able to concentrate on his novel, though, Baxter is drawn into an investigation into...

'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...

Somewhere in the kaleidoscope between life and art sits Clare, whose story is Marion Halligan's The Fog Garden. Clare, like Marion, is a woman of a certain age whose much-loved husband of thirty-odd years has just died. And Clare, like Marion, is a novelist. With the loss of such a marriage...

Son of a Norwegian master-mariner and grandson of Kaloni, the last of the great Polynesian navigators, Gunnar Thorkild is a man consumed by a dream. Convinced that the Polynesians' legendary Island of the Dead is real, he risks his career, his life-and those of his fellow adventurers-to find it. Shipwrecked...

'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.' A collection of fast-paced, gritty stories from Australia's best-loved crime writer. In stories that range from Sydney's mean back streets to its glittering but deadly harbour, Corris's hero Cliff Hardy comes up against a range of villains - along with clients who are not always what they seem.