Cirrus@Austlit

'The first Murray Whelan adventure

'The fiddle at the Pacific Pastoral meat-packing works was a nice little earner for all concerned until Herb Gardiner reported finding a body in number 3 chiller. An accident, of course, but just the excuse a devious political operator might grab to stir up trouble with the unions.

'Enter Murray Whelan, minder, fixer and general dogsbody for the Minister of Industry. Between playing of party factions and pursuing the kohl-eyed Ayisha, it’s all in a day’s work for Murray to hose down the situation at Pacific Pastoral.

'Then the lairy V8 turns up. And after that, it gets personal. Because don’t you just hate it when somebody tries to kill you and you don’t know who or why?' (Publication summary)

'On a sultry summer night Murray Whelan is in the Botanical Gardens tasting Salina Fleet's apricot lips. Meanwhile the body of an artist is being fished from the ornamental moat outside the Art Gallery. The papers called it suicide. The police say it's an accident.

'Political minder, brushed-off lover and art buff on the make, Murray goes looking for the big picture. He finds there's more than meets the eye among the self-made millionaires, ruthless culture vultures, and cool operators of Melbourne's art world. He learns that when you dabble with death there's nothing abstract about a loaded gun.

'Murray Whelan, the hero of Stiff, Shane Maloney's brilliant debut novel, is back at his richly futile best. A romantic comedy and drop-dead thriller, The Brush-Off mixes high art with low blows.' (Publication summary)

'When Murray Whelan, lovelorn political minder and part-time fitness fanatic, is recruited to massage Australia’s bid for the Olympics he has no idea how tough the going will get.

'Not even the sight of the gorgeous Holly Deloite in her taut blue leotard at the City Club can stop him diving head first into trouble. And, when the death of the young Aboriginal athlete Darcy Anderson proves that murder is a contact sport, Murray is soon breaking all the rules.

'Mixing it with a savvy black activist, a body-building psychopath and the enigmatic Dr Phillipa Knox, Murray jumps the gun every time.' (Publication summary)

'Murray Whelan is in trouble. A disastrous election result is looming and his days as a political minder seem numbered. But when his boss Angelo Agnelli picks a fight with the trucking industry, and Murray finds himself on the receiving end of a fist at a city nightclub, his employment prospects seem the least of his problems.

'And that’s before he finds himself sampling Cheryl’s melons in the back of a truck at the fruit and vegetable market at five in the morning. With a runaway son on his hands, the police at his heels, adultery in the air and a gun buried in the backyard, Murray faces his toughest test yet.' (Publication summary)

'The Hon. Murray Whelan MP. Respectability at last.

'And true love, what’s more, in the person of the salty-tongued Lyndal Luscombe—who has in her possession a highly significant ultrasound photo.

'There must be a catch.

'And Murray’s about to reel it in.' (Publication summary)