Win, Lose or Draw
Cliff Hardy 42
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
'The godfather of Australian crime fiction.'
Will one man's loss be Hardy's gain?
'I'd read about it in the papers, heard the radio reports and seen the TV coverage and then forgotten about it, the way you do with news stories.'
A missing girl, drugs, yachts, the sex trade and a cold trail that leads from Sydney to Norfolk Island, Byron Bay and Coolangatta.
The police suspect the father, Gerard Fonteyn OA, a wealthy businessman. But he's hired Cliff to find her, given him unlimited expenses and posted a $250,000 reward for information.
Finally there's a break - an unconfirmed sighting of Juliana Fonteyn, alive and well. But as usual, nothing is straightforward. Various other players are in the game - and Cliff doesn't know the rules, or even what the game might be. He's determined to find out, and as the bodies mount up the danger to himself and to Juliana increases.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ned Kelly Award winner Corris's workmanlike 42nd and final crime novel featuring PI Cliff Hardy (after 2016's That Empty Feeling) takes Hardy on a fast-paced, libation-fueled chase from Sydney to various towns along the Australian coast in search of missing teen Juliana Fonteyn. Though he's recovering from bypass surgery and admits to a prejudice against the rich, Hardy's declining PI firm needs a cash infusion, so when Juliana's distraught and exceedingly well-heeled father asks him to find her, Hardy takes on the job. Aided by a number of shady part-time assistants and freely spending Fonteyn's money, Hardy runs afoul of crooked cops and some sleazy gangsters, in particular an Errol Flynn look-alike who claims to be the Hollywood actor's illegitimate son. The comfortably predictable plot builds to a less than earth-shaking resolution, but readers will enjoy the ride through the mean Australian streets and beaches.
