The Brush-Off

Rating

While the body of a disgruntled artist is being fished out of the public art gallery's ornamental moat Murray Whelan is in the undergrowth having a romantic encounter with the delicious Salina Fleet. Whelan, political spin doctor and artless lover, goes in search of the big picture - to ensure there'll be no fallout for his boss, but in the process stumbles upon a scam to swindle the taxpayer, a forgery racket and a trio of beautiful women. As he's drawn ever deeper into a horribly tangled web, his childhood nemesis lurks menacingly on the edge of the action and the body count keeps on rising . . .

About the Author

Shane Maloney is deputy director of the Brunswick Institute, a weather board think-tank financed by his wife. The Brush-Off was awarded the 1996 Ned Kelly Prize for Best Crime Novel, and short-listed for the 1996 Vance Palmer Prize for fiction. Shane Maloney is also the author of Something Fishy, Stiff, Nice Try, The Big Ask and Sucked In.

Reviews

Read it - then pester your friends to read it. * * Big Issue * * Shane Maloney writes like an angel, always in control of his plot and pace. Not that many readers will notice this: they'll be too busy laughing. * * Ian Rankin * * Murray is a great creation, one that takes the wisecracking wise guy into a whole new realm. * * Houston Chronicle * * I look forward to the next Murray Whelan novel with the same anticipation of pleasure that I feel for the new Carl Hiaasen or Elmore Leonard. * * Sydney Morning Herald * *