Bleak Spring

Australia's celebrated Inspector Scobie Malone finds his job hitting close to home when he must figure out who killed Will Rockne, the father of his daughter's boyfriend and a man with a dark past. 15,500 first printing.

Veteran author Cleary's Australian Inspector Scobie Malone of Sydney's police force (Dark Summer, etc.) is grappling with the murder of small-time lawyer Will Rockne, shot in his car in the parking lot of a local beach club, his wife, Olive, only yards away. Rockne's office safe turns up ten thousand in cash and a personal bank account in the millions. His young secretary confesses to one salacious weekend with her boss--a fact that appears more upsetting to Rockne's 18-year-old son Jason than to Olive, whose chief support seems to be high-powered lawyer Angela Bodalle. Tracking the source of Rockne's fortune uncovers connections to a bank with branches in very exotic locales, to wealthy bookie Bernie Bezrow, and to a mysterious car salesman with several aliases, one of them Dostoyevsky. There are more killings before a final confrontation, with hostages, seals the fate of the money and the killer. A steadily absorbing plot with some untraditional facets, a clutch of well-drawn characters and a detective who continues to be warm, intelligent, and unsmug make Bleak Spring one of Cleary's best. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

YA-Homicide Detective Scobie Malone heads the inquiry into the murder of Will Rockne. When bank records reveal the victim to be worth over $5 million, his shocked widow becomes a suspect, as do several former clients with very shady pasts. Cleary paints the Aussie directness, humor, and colorful expressions along with the landscape of New South Wales. Two characters stand out: Jay Rockne, a teenager struggling to control his volatile emotions and to accept his new role as man of the house; and Scobie, an endearing hero. Malone's traditional family contrasts with Rockne's dysfunctional one, with its atypical arrangements that include a lesbian relationship central to the plot. Mature YAs will enjoy the suspense of this well-crafted crime story and will be on the lookout for further Scobie Malone mysteries.
Judy Sokoll, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With his latest Scobie Malone case, after Dark Summer , Cleary confirms his standing as Australia's Ed McBain. Cleary's novels, like McBain's 87th Precinct series, are model procedurals whose casts of colorful characters and intricate plots are webbed with a fine dry humor: "A good deal of police detection is taken up with thinking and discussion, which are often indistinguishable from malingering." Inspector Malone of the Sydney PD is in charge of investigating the murder of Will Rockne, a suburban lawyer shot to death in a parking lot. Olive, the flighty widow, seems to be taking things calmly, closely supported by glamorous Queen's Counsel Angela Bodalle. When $5 million is found in Rockne's safe, the case takes on a new cast. Some shady bankers, a flashy bookmaker, a menacing Russian and a lowlife car thief play parts in the puzzle, whose dark secrets, once revealed, spin out to damage quite a few lives, some innocent. Cleary's sure grip on the brisk plot is equaled by his grasp of psychological motivations. This is first-rate storytelling.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Inspector Scobie Malone of the Sydney, Australia police looks for the killer of his daughter's boyfriend's father, uncovering a secret bank account and a vast plot in the process.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Philosophical Aussie cop Scobie Malone, superdad, superhusband, general all-around superfellow, is back in an adventure chock-full of dead ends and red herrings. Scobie and his wife, Lisa, know neighbors Olive and Will Rockne only vaguely. The Malones don't care for Will's brash boastfulness or Olive's churlish resentment, but when Will turns up brutally murdered in a suburban car park, Scobie's called in to investigate despite his personal dislike of the dead man. Shockingly, Rockne, a solicitor with a modest practice, has a bank account containing over $5 million. And that's not the only shocking thing about the case--kidnapping, extortion, and two more murders keep Scobie's head spinning as he tries to sort out the puzzling pieces. Cleary offers his usual provocative, suspenseful, clever story, with intriguing characters, wry humor, fine writing, and a full-speed-ahead plot. Scobie Malone is one of the most likable, witty, intelligent cop-heroes in the current crop, and Cleary is one of the most entertaining writers in the genre today. Highly recommended. Emily Melton