The Brush-Off

First UK edition. 8vo., [iv], 314 pp. Pictorial wraps. Originally published in 1996 by The Text Publishing Company, Australia.

A Murray Whelan novel. Author's second book. Winner of the 1996 Ned Kelly Prize for Crime Fiction. Shortlisted for the 1996 Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction (now renamed the Victorian Premier's Literary Award), the book is an English set text for Victorian secondary students. An artist is found dead in the moat surrounding Melbourne's National Gallery and Murray Whelan, artless lover and political spin doctor to the hapless Minister for the Arts, investigates to ensure there will be no fallout for his boss.

The first two novels in the series, Stiff (1994) and The Brush-Off (1996), were adapted as telemovies for Australia's Seven Network in 2004, with David Wenham in the lead role. The series has been summed up as an "episodic biography of Murray Whelan as he falls up the political ladder," in a Melbourne Age profile by the author. In 2009, Maloney received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers Association of Australia. "An enjoyable, richly textured read." –Mystery Review, (four daggers)