Jon Cleary

In 1966 Sir Walter Springfellow, head of Australian intelligence, vanished mysteriously and without a trace. As a young constable, Scobie Malone investigated the disappearance. Years later some bones are found up in the hills which are presumed to be Sir Walter's, and Detective Inspector Malone finds himself back on the case. His first task is to break the news to Venetia Springfellow, Sir Walter's glamorous widow, whose ruthless ambition has made...

In the town of Collamundra, Australia, the corpse of Japanese farm manager Kenji Sagawa is found in one of his cotton mill's threshing machines. The prosperity that his company had brought to the small town had also engendered racial tension, and Detective Inspector Scobie Malone of the Sydney Police Department is called in to investigate-hardly a vacation. The local corrupt government and law enforcement resent him, and the Aborigine population gets...

Love never dies ... unless a killer intervenes. The Hotel Southern Savoy has become the reluctant host to two corpses on a single night-and homicide inspector Scobie Malone knows this investigation will be a nightmare from the moment he arrives. The first victim was the wife of the American ambassador, a slaying that will certainly have international repercussions-and worse, if the lady's dark secrets are ever revealed. But it's the second murder...

Scobie Malone's job as a homicide cop is to try to keep murder at bay. His job as a father is to keep his family safe. Now, as the eyes of the world are turning toward his city, both of Malone's careers are in serious jeopardy. An important politician is murdered in high-profile public as his nation rushes toward center stage in the international arena. The assassination is clean and professional-and senseless on the surface. Malone knows, however,...

In 1911 in Delhi, King George V is on the brink of being crowned emperor of India. While on duty near Simla, a handsome British intelligence officer, Clive Farnol, finds a plot to assassinate His Majesty. Meanwhile, a young Bostonian reporter, Bridie O'Brady, is in town to write about the coronation. In this exotic tale of romance and intrigue, Clive and Bridie must together trek from Simla to Delhi amidst ambush attempts and a sly group of traveling...

It begins one rainy dawn: Orville Brame, prominent lawyer and president of the American Bar Association, is found shot through the heart, slumped in a monorail, silently circling downtown Sydney. The next day, the body of a security guard is fished out of the harbor. During the ensuing investigation, a talented rookie cop is ruthlessly gunned down. The trail Inspector Scobie Malone uncovers leads to betrayal-betrayal between brothers, when jealousy...

Cleo Spearfield, daughter of famous Australian senator Sylvester Spearfield, travels to Vietnam as a war correspondent in order to prove her own aptitude and independence. But when her story of a massacre there is kept silent by her editors back home, she resigns and relocates to London. Amid her travels she meets three other men, all of whom vie with her father for her attention. Will Cleo succeed in a world governed and owned by men?

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...

Five years ago Jonas Cleary asked me to write a foreword for "Brothers, sisters.. with a focus on the socio-economic aspects of the book. As "Brothers, sisters.. is now republished as a trilogy, he has asked me for a new, revised foreword to the book or better, an updated one mirroring the prevailing socio-economic environment relative to what he has written. In that original foreword I had not only outlined how the then economic factors determining...