The Easy Sin - Softcover

Cleary, Jon

3.73

44 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007136749 ISBN 13: 9780007136742

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

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From Australia’s 'national literary institution' (Sydney Morning Herald), the latest mystery featuring homicide detective and family man Scobie Malone

The time has come for Scobie Malone to leave the Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit of the Sydney police, and his last investigation could be the most bizarre case ever to cross his desk.

Called in when a housemaid is found dead in a dotcom millionaire’s penthouse, Scobie suspects he’s dealing with a kidnap that’s gone wrong. In fact, it couldn’t have gone more wrong. The kidnappers thought they had grabbed the millionaire’s girlfriend – how were they supposed to know he liked slipping into her designer dresses when she wasn’t around?

The plot thickens further when it is revealed that the dotcom bubble has burst, leaving the erstwhile millionaire in debt to the Yakuza and Scobie on the trail of some old adversaries. Throw in the ex-wife, a mistress or two, and the mother of all outlaws, and you have a case that would confound the greatest detective and entertain the most discerning of readers.

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Review:

‘The Malone stories come alive through their setting... Cleary’s writing is seamless and his plots imaginative and mature’
Carl Hiaasen, Miami Herald

“Cleary is a national literary institution... If Australia has a crime writer who deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Ed McBain, Ruth Rendell, and P.D James, then it is Cleary.”
Stuart Coupe, Sydney Morning Herald

From the Back Cover:

The time has come for Scobie Malone to leave the Homicide and Serial Offenders Unit of the Sydney police, and his last investigation could be the most bizarre case ever to cross his desk.

Called in when a housemaid is found dead in a dotcom millionaire's penthouse, Scobie suspects he's dealing with a kidnap that's gone wrong. But never in his wildest dreams could he imagine just how wrong.

The kidnappers can't believe it either. Their well-laid plan to grab a millionaire's girlfriend has instead netted them a millionaire. How were they supposed to know that he liked slipping into the girlfriend's designer dresses when she wasn't around?

To make matters worse, the dotcom bubble has burst, leaving the erstwhile millionaire in debt to the Yakuza and high on their hit list. Could it be that they are behind the kidnapping? The trail leads Scobie to renew the acquaintance of some old adversaries, but Japanese gangsters pale into insignificance compared to the predatory ex-wife, ex-girlfriends, and ex-mother-in-law, all with an eye on their share of the spoils.

Acclaim for Jon Cleary

"The best practitioner of Australian crime fiction"
'Sydney Morning Herald'

"The Malone stories come alive through their setting...Cleary's writing is seamless and his plots imaginative and mature"
'Miami Herald'

"The business of a novelist is to tell a story. Jon Cleary has that talent in abundance"
'Sunday Express'

"When the ruminants and the lucre-chasers are growing lichen on library shelves, Jon Cleary will continue to be read"
'Los Angeles Times'

"Enough plot twists and conspiracy-making ingredients to satisfy the most demanding aficionado of the genre"
'Irish Times'

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