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Synopsis
Tightly plotted, funny and briskly paced, this first Murray Whelan mystery leaves the reader with the hugely enjoyable prospect of more to come. When a disgruntled artist is found dead in the moat surrounding the Melbourne public arts building, Murray Whelan, political advisor and artless lover, has to investigate the case to make sure that there will be no negative political impact on his boss. In the process, he stumbles upon widespread misuse of government funds, begins to suspect a forgery scam, and tangles with two beautiful women. Meanwhile, Whelan's childhood nemesis lurks menacingly on the edge of the action, and people are dropping like flies. When you dabble with death, there's nothing abstract about a loaded gun.
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Review
Murray Whelan, a political advisor to the Australian Minister of the Arts, tries to protect his boss from scandal and save his own skin in Shane Maloney's witty mystery about intrigue in the art world of Melbourne, Australia. When a disgruntled artist is found dead in the moat surrounding the public arts building, Murray Whelan investigates the case to make sure that there will be no negative political impact on his boss. In the process, he stumbles upon widespread misuse of government funds, begins to suspect a forgery scam, and tangles with two beautiful women. Meanwhile, Whelan's childhood nemesis lurks menacingly on the edge of the action. People start dropping like flies.
"I might not know much about art," says Whelan, summarizing his number one job skill, "but I've been a member of the Labor Party long enough to recognize the aroma of a rodent when it wafts my way." Whelan's knack for the apt turn of phrase adds a special charm to this book. When he meets a wealthy patron of the arts, he notes that the man resembles "a cross between Aristotle Onassis and a walnut."
In some thrillers, the hero is simply put in harm's way. In this one, Shane Maloney goes the extra mile and puts the hero in a ridiculous situation, then puts him in harm's way. At one point, our beleaguered hero is trapped in a warehouse full of puppets and the only method of escape he sees is to don an enormous octopus costume with stilts and sidle towards a high window. Of course, he falls, hurts his ear, and has to endure Van Gogh jokes for the rest of the adventure. "The trick with stilts, in case you ever need to know," Murray Whelan advises, "is to stay in motion. Much like a bicycle. Or politics. Stand still and you're stuffed. Keep moving or you take a dive." That's sound advice. This book has wit, an amiable protagonist, and velocity. What's not to like? --Jill Marquis
About the Author
Shane Maloney is deputy director of the Brunswick Institute. 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 Stiff, Nice Try and The Big Ask.
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- PublisherCanongate Books Ltd
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 1841952044
- ISBN 13 9781841952048
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages320
- Rating
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The Brush-Off (A Murray Whelan novel)
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