Nice Try

I came up with 'Nice Try' without knowing that I was looking for it: I found a copy at a yard sale. Needless to say I was "hooked" on Shane Maloney, and set out to get all of his books, which I did. My only regret is that I have read them all. All I have to look forward to now is another Maloney book, or old age and a bad memory so I can reread them!! The Aussie government is a bit different from ours in the USA, but it's not hard to catch on. The political manipulations and greed are easily identifiable there, too. You can't go wrong with a Murray Whelan mystery!!!

No one writes crime fiction as well as Shane Maloney. No one comes close. Not Robert B. Parker, Robert Crais, Tony Hillerman. They're great craftsmen, and of course, Shane Maloney is an apple to their oranges. But he's simply got more energy, more wit, more craft. Nice Try is an amazing book.

A word of warning to non-Australian readers, although written in English, the Australian vernacular in this book is used often and with wild abandon. Before reading the book, it would be wise to brush up on your Aussie slang, lest you get left behind. A quick test is provided at the end of this review to see if you're up to it.In case you want to brave it without fortifying yourself with the lingo, err...language, here's a rundown as to what the book's about. Fair dinkum!It's 1990 and the city of Melbourne is making a bid for the 1996 Olympic Games, and things are looking very promising. As far as the Bid Committee is concerned, they're a shoo-in, with only one possible cloud on the horizon. They want to ensure that the aboriginal people are on board when the IOC delegates hit town. So Murray Whelan is enlisted to keep things quiet on the aboriginal front. A simple job as far as he's concerned, it should be money for jam and then back to his job as advisor to the Minister for Water Supply.And so it was until a young aboriginal athlete is bashed to death, and pretty soon, the whole bid starts to become jeopardised. As fast as Murray tries to fix the problems, the more they seem to crop up with the problems becoming more outlandish and, at times, amusing.As we all know, the Melbourne bid for the 1996 Olympic Games failed and this is a humorous suggestion as to a contributing factor to it's failure.Oh yes, and here's my test to see how hard or easy it will be to understand the language: "Take a squiz at this book, she's a real corker, fair dinkum. You'd be a real drongo to miss it and probably about as popular as a blowie at a barbie .So garn, give it a burl."

Today - Memorial Day 2000 - the New York Times headlined a story about a massive protest by the Aborigines in Sidney. They feel left out of the cultural doings at the upcoming Summer Olympics. In his book, Mr.Maloney's protagonist Murray Wheelan tries to nail down Melbourne's bid for the 1996 Summer Olympics. Guess what the problem is? The aborigines feel neglected and protest. This being fiction, things get quite involved, of course, with murder, mayhem and a family confusion right out of Gilbert and Sullivan. We have a passel of Aussie crackpots, and the author's humor makes you laugh out loud. Ignore the mystery part - just enjoy the incredible humor.