Cirrus@Austlit

'There are good cops, there are bad cops...and there is Pufferfish, aka Detective Inspector Franz Heineken.

Pufferfish (Contusus brevicaudus): Body moderately short, pectorals rounded. Slow swimmer. Scavenger in the mud, at home in the murky shallows, where it roots out and feeds on detritusbody able to bloat and even explode under extreme provocation.

A severed head rolls out of the runnish in a crowded Tasmanian caravan park, and the hunt is on for the killers ... and for their victim, a man no-one seems to miss, a man no-one wants to know.' (Publication summary)

'Detective Inspector Franz Heineken, aka Pufferfish, is a cop who loves to be loathed.

'Roaming the backwaters of his bedevilled island home, Pufferfish is led to investigate a mysterious and clueless attack on a second-hand dealer. But while Ira Cone's injuries are not serious, her volunteer work for a soup kitchen attracts the attention of the good detective's ever-probing eye.' (Publication summary)

'Toward the finish of the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, a leading boat sights a dingy crewed by a bloated corpse - wearing only Bermuda shorts and a six-inch galley knife in its back.' (Publication summary)

'Tasmania's rise and rise as a tourist destination makes the island an ideal location for the cashed-up international polo set, jetting in from Europe, Buenos Aires, Shanghai and LA for their late summer carnival and relaxathon in the world's latest clean-green hotspot. They play fiercely and party hard at the swish Polo Palace, built near beautiful beaches through the largesse of an island-loving, polo-mad billionaire Bahraini businessman.

'So when this idyll is gruesomely interrupted by the murder of Sebastian Wicken, a dashing and wealthy Englishman famous for wielding his stick and ball, Pufferfish, aka seasoned Detective Inspector Franz Heineken of the Tasmanian Police Force, is called to investigate. And investigate he does.

'For starters, what possible relationship could there be between this visiting bludgeoned aristocrat and Tassie's worst-of-the-worst career villain, psychopathic Morgan Murger? What ghastly behaviour unites them in blood?

'Pufferfish and his offsiders Rafe and Faye work double time to try and fathom who did what to whom, and why - while keeping an antsy tourist industry at bay - but then the strange intrusion of a quavery voice from rural England, being Sebastian's aunt Eugenie, deepens the mystery.

'Meanwhile Faye, against advice, has got herself personally involved in the theft of a stamp album from a workingclass primary school. Silly kids and all that. Except it's no ordinary stamp album, sucking in and mightily distracting Pufferfish from the politically-charged polo mess.

'As if all of this is not enough, an old Pufferfish flame, diminutive beauty Milly de Havilland cruises back into town from his distant past, when she'd given great comfort to the then young Dutch throwaway cop Franz Heineken, an emotional wreck washed up on remote Tasmania's shore. And, as it happens, Pufferfish's close de facto Hedda is currently overseas ...' (Publication summary)

'Across the wilds of Tasmania, from the majestic Central Plateau to remote Arthur River and using his intimate knowledge of the the island's people, Pufferfish aims himself at the increasingly dangerous mystery of Romeo's Gun. And at the evil predators stalking his patch.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Say it's not so, but detective squads still put their faith in the whiteboard and texta, brainstorming difficult cases. Like this:

1. Hildvi dies. Accident, suicide, murder?
2. Wayne, distraught.
3. Josh, Ange, impeccable alibis.
4. Mrs Ellicott swears she heard a scream.
5. Kurt Cowboy - mysterious, dangerous, no known ID.
6. Operation Centipede - Brisbane, "colourful identity" Marko Kaljurand.
7. Fishscale, Charlie, Blow, Wogan = best quality cocaine.
8. Uluru... Sorry, wrong whiteboard? No. Correct whiteboard. Add Alice Springs.

'Seeking answers to myriad tricky questions, Detective Inspector Franz Heineken, aka Pufferfish, aka long-time Aussie blow-in, knows where he must go - to the two Australian places he never wanted to investigate, let alone re-visit: the fabled Red Centre, and his ethically questionable past.' (Publication Summary)