It is 1979, and Perth is jumping with pub bands and overnight millionaires. Constable Snowy Lane is kicking back, preoccupied with no more than a ham sandwich and getting a game with the East Fremantle league side on Saturday. But when ‘Mr Gruesome’ takes another victim, Snowy’s life and career are to be forever changed by the grim deeds of a serial killer, and the dark bloom spreading across the City of Light.
At the time of its release, this award-winning Australian crime novel rewrote the script, bringing literary and evocative Australian noir to new audiences everywhere.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
‘Lively, funny, with enough plot for three novels.’ Sun-Herald
‘Warner consistently hits the target, skilfully creating a parallel world where crooks, their victims and pursuers breathe a different fetid air. His first novel is full of surprises and contradictions, wit and suspense, and could only have been pulled off by someone as audacious and confident as a reinvented musician who has died a million times on stage in a thousand cold rooms, using a borrowed guitar and someone else’s suit.’ Graeme Blundell, Weekend Australian
‘With its false leads, strange connections and quick pace, [this] is an enjoyable tale.’ Fremantle Herald
‘One of the Australian crime novels that people should read.’ Body Dabbler
‘… alive with the flavours, rhythms, cadences, corporate buccaneering and political adventurism of that era … so good one wonder[s] what Warner could possibly do for an encore.’ Australian Book Review
‘The plot is impressively complex, with clues scattered like land mines, and the suspense enough to keep you riveted to this thriller.’ Courier Times
Awards
Western Australian Premier’s Award (Co-winner 1996)