Stiff

Deeply enjoyable Aussie crime novel; a high 4 stars.

I had never previously read Shane Maloney, and that was clearly to my discredit! Murray Whelan, a down-on-his-luck State political fixer finds himself caught up in political, personal, and criminal drama when he finds himself investigating a corruption case that involves at least one dead body.

I've never been a big fan of "hard-boiled" crime novels. Perhaps because I grew up on the golden-age cosy crimes of Christie, or perhaps because of negative early experiences (cf the Claudia Valentine books). But it's fair to say the wit and pace of Maloney's writing has drawn me back to this world. Or perhaps it's that I'm now a Melbourne-based political worker with a useless personal life and show more a sense for the macabre? Maybe Murray Whelan is my spirit animal. Here, Murray attends his local branch meeting, and this experience hasn't changed in twenty years (will it ever?):

"Thirteen attendances and fifteen apologies out of sixty-seven members on the books. It was the usual crowd - true believers, unreconstructed Whitlamites, reliable booth captains, handers out of how-to-vote cards, knife-sharpeners, has-beens and wannabees. Laurie's son Barry, a forty-seven-year-old bachelor draftsman at the State Electricity Commission took the minutes on a concertina pile of computer paper salvaged from the SEC recycle bin."

Good times. show less

The Melbourne of Murray Whelan may have changed from the eighties where this political thriller is set, the machinations of the labor party, unions and big business however remains the same.
Murray is the electoral officer for a Victorian State MP, Minister for Industry. Murray's remit covers a far bit which can be covered by the term "fixer". He is the filter between the great unwashed, the general public and the Minister.
A worker is found frozen in a meat storage facility of a major meat processing plant. Murray is sent to check whether this has any political ramifications for his minister and to provide a sanitised report to absolve the Ministry if any workers safety issues have been breached.
Simple things rapidly become complicated, show more both in his private and his professional life.
Maloney perfectly captures the day to day travails of the lower political apparatchik in Melbourne's ethnically diverse northern suburbs. As a local, you love coming across familiar landmarks. Murray's character is not the super sleuth or the quirky amateur detective found in many crime novels. He is thrust into a situation not of his making and copes, or doesn't, as best he can.
This is the first in a series, can't wait to see how Maloney and Murray develop from here. show less

This is the first Murray Whelan mystery, and it's terrific fun. Maloney hit the ground running with this one. Political wheeler and dealer Whelan gets mixed up in a murder at a meat-packing plant, when he's asked to find out if an accidental death has any chance of setting off union activity. I love a book with a good sense of place, and Maloney's Melbourne is indeed very recognisable. I think I've stayed in that Greek-Italian-Turkish-Lebanese part of town.

And it's funny. Murray Whelan is a cynical bugger, but with a good heart, and his take on the political scene is nicely satirical without being overdone. And he suffers some hilarious pratfalls - the aftermath of his narrow escape from an attempted murder is a beautiful scene. Saved show more by a bag of rotting compost... show less

I seem to begin a very high proportion of my reviews with a caveat about why my review shouldn't be taken too seriously. I think that's just because I am mostly reviewing these things for myself, so I have a record of how I felt about a book, and I hate the thought of being responsible for someone else passing up a book they might love or wasting hours of their lives on something that isn't for them. Having said all that, I don't read a lot of crime fiction and so this review should be taken with a grain of salt because I might just be criticising or enthusing about elements that come with with the genre.

I really enjoyed this novel. It is fast-paced, energetic and quite funny in parts. Murray Whelan is a classic reluctant hero, a man show more with more important things to do who nevertheless finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery. This role is a classic because it works. I found I was on Whelan's side very quickly as he navigated Labor Party machinations, ethnic tensions and dodgy business practices in Melbourne's north while the real problems lie at home, with his son, his house and his failing relationship.

The only part of the book I didn't enjoy was the ending, with the last fifteen or twenty pages trying to wrap up far too many loose ends. Once again, I'm not sure if this is a genre thing, but I would have much rather the story ended with the solving of the crime, rather than finishing off the story of every relationship and every character that the book had explored.

Written in the first person, Maloney's prose is at it's best when Whelan is wisecracking and slandering. Otherwise it's clear and direct, driving the story with just enough embellishment to paint the picture.

I'd highly recommend this book, but then, when it comes to crime, what do I know? There might be much better stuff out there. But if you think your enjoyment of the genre might be enhanced by a bit of political colour, this could be a good way in. It was for me. show less

'What's funny about Swedish comedy?' my sister-in-law wanted to know after going to an opening at the Melbourne Film Festival. Evidently the entire audience was left with that sense of right-cinema-wrong-film. It made us speculate as to whether Swedish humour is particularly impenetrable. This, even though Australians have a particular affinity for Abba and Ikea.

And yet.

I read the first three Shane Maloneys in a 3-in-1 edition. I carried it with me everywhere, laughed out loud every page. It made people stop me on the street. My friends formed a queue to borrow it. Hey, some of them even forked out for their own copy. It was about the funniest thing I'd ever read.

I gave it to somebody in the UK. Anxiously awaited their verdict. Meh was show more about it.

So, maybe it was a culturally specific book and I didn't realise, being attuned to that culture as it happens. Maybe.

But gee. Maybe not. This series is the most brilliant fun. I think it would even make people who don't get enough sun happy. show less

While "Stiff" was first published around the turn of the millennium, the events are based sometime before that, in the heady days of the 1980s in Melbourne, Australia, when the state Labor government were attempting to win the bid for hosting the 1996 Olympic Games while also playing internecine politics in a way only the Australian Labor Party can.

There are some laugh out loud moments throughout "Stiff", including the comment about coming third in an arse kissing competition, as well as references that would surely make the novel unintelligible overseas, but overall, it was a very good start to the Murray Whelan series.

Not as good as later books in the series, but typically wondeful use of language.