Cirrus@Austlit

'After a huge and unexpected windfall from a previous operation, Harry Stevens, ex-Australian SAS Major and undercover Commonwealth Police operative, has ordered a new and bigger catamaran to be built in South Africa. When it's ready, together with a diverse and changing crew, he leaves the violence and horror of the Lord Howe Island operation far behind as they first visit peaceful Vanuatu. Then it's off on the long voyage to South Africa to pick-up the new boat. Along the way, the perennial trouble-magnet survives encounters with an old friend, a giant crocodile, as well as sundry storms.

'Harry's South African introduction includes a close encounter with thieves, then a deadly boat hi-jacking operation, where violence strikes a bit too close for comfort.

'With the new boat finally underfoot, Harry surprises the crew by making a slight detour to the south on the trip back to Oz. On an icy, remote southern island, Harry and crew have the first of several nasty encounters with a flotilla of Japanese whalers plying their foul and illegal trade in Australian waters.

'But annoyance turns to puzzlement as the intensity of the encounters escalates to relentless and lethal violence. Why are the whalers so upset with Harry and crew? Could there be a hidden agenda behind their naked aggression? As the body count grows, natural and other forces are brought into play, leading one of the crew to comment, 'Next time you go on holiday, Harry, we'll stay behind.'' (Publication summary)

'With former Australian SAS Major, Harry Stevens and the Firebird crew heading home from their harrowing, but lucrative Indonesian operation, a call from the Australian PM sees the crew despatched to beautiful Lord Howe Island to investigate some disturbing events.

'How can a beautiful and tranquil sub-tropical paradise have such a rotten core? Harry's disconcerting habit of attracting trouble strikes again as he encounters:

• A wife-beating police officer.....
• A homicidal maniac terrorising young female tourists.....
• A major international smuggling operation, involving stolen uncut gemstones.....
• A very profitable smuggling operation dealing in protected Australian reptiles.....
• Are any of these linked?
• Is putting two of Harry's favourite ladies in serious harm's way justified?
• Can Harry's passion for coming up with complex 'cunning plans', save the ladies?
• And what does one do with a homicidal Police officer in the absence of witnesses and 'smoking gun' evidence?
• Who guards the guardian?
• Doubts and misgivings plague Harry's waking thoughts as the darkest side of humanity increasingly shows its ugliest face.

'At least with the diminutive, but deadly Corrine helping Harry and Jasper, there is possibly a way.' (Publication summary)

'Driven by intense personal interest, including a shoulder with a bullet hole in it, Harry takes the Special Marine Strike Force across the Timor Sea to Indonesia in pursuit of the escaping Earth Care principals. Retribution and reward follow in the best Harry Stevens tradition, before the Strike Force take some well-deserved R&R and head for West Indonesia to keep their promise to their friends, Roger and Jill, in the search for the highly elusive and remarkable Green Gold.

'Greedy islanders and pirates plying their age-old trade, do their best to complicate the process, but more treasure, along with the body count, keep piling up for the crews of the two boats, before some seized papers reveals details of an assassination plot against the Aussie PM and names the shadowy figures who were financing the EarthCare debacle!

'Harry's not the only one with cunning plans - the special envoy who arrives to collect the papers comes up with a hare-brained scheme to safeguard the PM, but more strange alliances are formed as an old adversary unexpectedly re-surfaces.

'A final round of havoc brews up that attracts Harry's particular brand of retribution, but who wins...who loses, and is the job really finished?' (Publication summary)

(Publication summary)

'Harry Stevens, the Middle-Eastern war hero from Hitch-Hikers, the first book in the Firebird series, thought that having dinner at the pub and chatting up the waitress was a safe and pleasant way to pass an evening, but circumstances conspire to dump the delivery of a new super-drug as well as a large bag of bikie gang cash in his lap. Assumptions are made, confusions are leapt to, shots are fired, people are dead and Harry finds himself in the middle of a bikie gang war with both sides looking to take him out. And that's not to dinner!

'Being on the hit lists of all the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs in SE Queensland, Harry is forced to run for his life, but not before stocking up on lovely girls, rum and a few select close friends. Harry's mystical giant cat, Jasper once again proves that he's more than worth any two humans in a fight. Harry, the floating trouble magnet, discovers that being shot in Afghanistan was nothing like being the focus of attention of all the OMC's in South East Queensland. His inventiveness gets the workout of a lifetime as he tries to stay one jump ahead of the bad guys as they form strange alliances to find him.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Harry Stevens, a Middle Eastern war hero, thought that recovering in Eden with his huge and mystical cat, Jasper, after his catamaran is bashed around by a storm, would be a delightful break from his sailing voyage around Australia. However, the finger of fate in the very pleasant form of an abused, runaway wife and her two lively, wilful and beautiful teenage daughters lands Harry in more trouble than he could ever imagine.

'Harry's hopes for a quiet time in this beautiful and peaceful town are shattered as he learns that the psychotic, vengeful husband is pulling out all stops in an effort to locate, not just his wife, but even more so the girls for his own, much darker purposes. Suddenly on the run, Harry is forced to fall back on his natural inventiveness and SAS training to combat an increasingly resourceful foe who shows that there is truly no limit to human lust, greed, depravity and treachery.

'Barely staying one step ahead of his pursuers, Harry forms some most unlikely alliances to try to defeat his many opponents with their limitless resources.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.