Jon Cleary

Jon Cleary

Sydney, New South Wales

Born in Sydney in 1917, Jon Stephen Cleary, left school at 14 and worked at a variety of jobs before joining the Army in 1940. He served in the Middle East and New Guinea, during which time he started to write seriously, and by the war's end he had published several short stories in magazines.
His first novel, You Can't See Round Corners, was published in 1947, and won the second prize in The Sydney Morning Herald's novel contest. It was later made into a television serial and then into a feature film. Cleary worked as a journalist in London and New York from 1948-1951. It was in 1951 that his most well known book, The Sundowners, was published. It was later made into a successful movie. Cleary has been a prolific writer, having published more than 50 books.
The first Inspector Scobie Malone novel appeared in 1966, and there are now 20 books in the series. Degrees of Connection won the 2004 Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel and is the final in the Scobie Malone series.
In 1995 Cleary was awarded the Inaugural Ned Kelly Award for his lifetime contribution to crime fiction in Australia.

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

A Very Private War

This is a work of fiction, though it deals with an actual organization of Coastwatchers who remained on Pacific Islands after they were invaded by Japanese forces. They radioed vital information to the Allies about Japanese activities. The Japanese, aware of their radio activity, hunted them over mountains and through jungles. This is a fast moving story of World War II.

Autumn Maze (A Scobie Malone story)

From the award-winning Jon Cleary, a novel featuring Sydney detective Scobie Malone. When the Sydney Police Minister’s son dies, Malone is caught in a maelstrom of politics, money, murder, and power. When the Sydney police minister’s son falls twenty floors to his death, the politics of murder ripple the city like a boulder into a pool. Caught in the wash is Detective Inspector Scobie Malone, as he uncovers an elaborate financial scheme, a series of cold-blooded precision killings, and layers of political intrigue. Scobie thinks he is immune to politics, but he is soon engulfed in its consequences: the police minister applies pressure, a millionaire banker becomes less than his public image, a hit man goes about his grisly work, and three of Sydney’s most powerful (and libidinous) women give Scobie a glimpse of how life in Sydney really operates. Finally, when he is forced to accept aid from his onetime enemy, top criminal Jack Aldwych, now retired but still ruthless, Malone learns once again that when politics and money are arrayed against him, the odds are never even.

Yesterday’s Shadow

From the award-winning Jon Cleary, a novel featuring Sydney detective, Scobie Malone. Two murders in one hotel on the same night – coincidence? The first victim is a cleaner, but it is the second corpse that sets alarm bells ringing in Sydney's Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit, for the victim proves to be the wife of the American ambassador. Two people are murdered in one night… in the same hotel. The first victim is a cleaner, and the second turns out to be the wife of the American ambassador. Alarm bells are ringing in the Sydney's Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit and – as if he didn't have enough to contend with fending off interested parties from the FBI, CIA and federal authorities – Scobie Malone finds himself confronted with a long-forgotten girlfriend who is the widow of an abusive husband.

The Easy Sin

From the award-winning Jon Cleary, a novel featuring Sydney detective, Scobie Malone. The time has come for Scobie Malone to leave the Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit of the Sydney police, and his last investigation could be the most bizarre case ever to cross his desk. The time has come for Scobie Malone to leave the Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit of the Sydney police, and his last investigation could be the most bizarre case ever to cross his desk. Called in when a housemaid is found dead in a dotcom millionaire’s penthouse, Scobie suspects he’s dealing with a kidnap that’s gone wrong. In fact, it couldn’t have gone more wrong. The kidnappers thought they had grabbed the millionaire’s girlfriend – how were they supposed to know he liked slipping into her designer dresses when she wasn’t around? The plot thickens further when it is revealed that the dotcom bubble has burst, leaving the erstwhile millionaire in debt to the Yakuza and Scobie on the trail of some old adversaries. Throw in the ex-wife, a mistress or two, and the mother of all outlaws, and you have a case that would confound the greatest detective and entertain the most discerning of readers.

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