It's tough being a private dick Down Under, and Jack Munro, a veteran of the Great War and an ex-copper, has spent most of his professional life on backyard lawns in pursuit of philandering spouses. Now, in the midst of the Second World War, he catches a case of the "Coorparoo Blues" when a missing husband lands him in a world of trouble involving local lowlifes and some very questionable seppoes (the Aussie slur for Americans). Then, in "The Irish Fandango," an investigation into the apparent suicide of a communist organizer sucks Munro into a vortex of secrets reaching back to the Spanish Civil War, revealing crimes against god and humanity.
Whimsical in a delightfully vulgar way, G.S. Manson's pair of novellas are a guileless homage to classic noir works by authors from James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler to contemporaries like Elmore Leonard. A protagonist with great appeal, Munro might wish he were Sam Spade, but that rough exterior belies a sucker of Marlowesque proportions with a soft spot for the sheilas and an affinity for the underdog. Steeped in digga slang, the hardboiled capers offer a rare glimpse of wartime Australia. (Luckily, there's a glossary included for non-Australian readers.) Perfectly poised between kitsch and serious period piece, Manson gives readers just the right amount of facts and fun for the ideal beach book. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher