The Bear Pit

Jon Cleary is one of the most prolific mystery novelists in the world, and it wouldn't be a surprise to find you've never heard of him. He's probably best known in the States for having written the adventure novel High Road to China, which was made into a Tom Selleck movie. In his native Australia, though, he's best known for a long series of police procedurals featuring Scobie Malone, a Sydney homicide inspector. According to the by the same author section of the front of this book, this is the 17th Scobie Malone mystery, and they're all good, and suspenseful. This one is especially intriguing and enigmatic.Aussie politics are apparently somewhat dirty, but down under there are lines you don't cross, and political assasination is one of them. When a major Australian politician is gunned down eight months before the Olympics visit Sydney, everyone in politics is a suspect, and there are opportunities galore. Things are complicated for Malone by the involvement of two of his daughters, and his wife, in the Olympic preparations or the coverage of the assassination. Only his son is unentangled. When Scobie and his partner Russ Clements unravel things and begin to zero in on the shooter, this only intensifies the mystery, because no one is clear who hired him.I enjoy Jon Cleary a great deal. The one thing that may be jarring is his habit of jumping to different points of view, which some may find jarring. I don't, personally, and I enjoy it. I would highly recommend this book.

Australian fiction is the best you will ever find (and I've read everything from King to Koontz) but 99% of books from Down Under are not released here in the United States. Why? I don't know. But I DO know what I've discovered. Jon Cleary's The Bear Pit : A Scobie Malone Mystery is fantastic! I've hunted down more Scobie Malone Mysteries over the internet and they're all great. Other must reads by Australian authors are:Any book written by Robert G. Barrett! (The Stephen King of Australia)Peter Corris' Cliff Hardy stories! (As good as anything written by Nelson DeMille)Blood Junction by Caroline Carver (As good as anything written by Dean Koontz)Every book written by Peter Doyle! (Move over John Grisham)My fellow Americans, fight to read the books the US publishers won't let you see! You will be glad you did.