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Cliff Hardy #2
White Meat
Cliff Hardy, an Australian private detective, is hired to find the missing daughter of Ted Tarleton, a wealthy bookie
213 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 12, 1986
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78 people want to read
About the author
Peter Corris
155 books61 followersPeter Corris was an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical and crime fiction. His first novel was published in 1980. Corris is credited with reviving the fully-fledged Australian crime novel with local settings and reference points and with a series character firmly rooted in Australian culture, Sydney PI Cliff Hardy. As crime fiction writer, he was described as "the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-writing".
He won the Lifetime Achievement award at the Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing in 1999 and was shortlisted for best novel in 2006 for Saving Billy and in 2007 for The Undertow.
He won the Lifetime Achievement award at the Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing in 1999 and was shortlisted for best novel in 2006 for Saving Billy and in 2007 for The Undertow.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 19, 2022
The second book in Peter Corris' widely popular Cliff Hardy detective series is very reminiscent of Hardy himself, full of attitude, a little rough around the edges but uncompromising in its effort to produce results. White Meat begins as a missing person case when rich bookie Ted Tarelton hires Hardy to track down his daughter who has appeared to have gone off the rails.
Noni was last seen in the company of a young Aboriginal man headed for the windswept Sydney suburb of La Perouse. From virtually the first moment Hardy steps foot into the suburb things start to go haywire and by the time he leaves the place there is a faceless corpse lying on the coastal rocks and he has a nasty gash on the back of his head. Pretty standard stuff for a Cliff Hardy investigation.
On the plus side, he has also managed to get a bit of information from an aboriginal man named Jimmy Sunday which is enough to send him racing up the New South Wales coast to the town of Macleay. Still thinking he is on the trail of the elusive Noni he finds himself caught up on the wrong side of some Italian mobsters looking to make a killing in the boxing game. On top of this complication he receives word that Noni is no longer missing - now she's kidnapped.
Far from being a normal kidnapping, everything about this feels wrong starting with the amount of money that has been demanded and on through to the amount of time it took to notify Ted Tarelton. Hardy takes charge with strong suspicions about the missing girl and plunges back into a complicated history of crooks, thieves, aboriginal boxers and the not too shabby sum of $100,000.
Wherever Cliff Hardy goes trouble and violence always follow but the fact that he starts his investigation in a Newtown boxing gym makes this assertion inevitable. His willingness to push people in the hope of shaking loose a reaction occasionally backfires and his methods aren't appreciated by the aboriginal ex-boxers he meets in both the inner Sydney suburbs and La Perouse. Not only does Hardy get results but he does so in a particularly lively and interesting way.
The drizzle had stopped and the clouds had peeled back leaving Newcastle squatting sullenly in a pool of moonlight. It opened its mouth and sucked me in.
Corris has a flair for description that makes even the most mundane scene quietly evocative. His delivery is, at times, exquisite and not without a healthy dose of biting good humour. Part of the appeal of the Cliff Hardy books is the presentation of the city of Sydney with the good highlighted equally prominently as the dingy.
An investigation that begins as a search for a runaway young woman becomes an involving family saga in which long hidden skeletons are unearthed and long held grudges are borne out. A cleverly interwoven secondary plot puts Cliff slap bang in the middle of a boxing scam with a bunch of Italian mob-like characters on one side and a community of aboriginal boxers on the other. It's a scenario that is destined to end badly for all concerned.
White Meat is vintage Cliff Hardy and, like the detective is a little rough around the edges occasionally drifting along aimlessly but ultimately firing up to provide a stinging resolution to a tightly woven story. As for Cliff Hardy, he is the epitome of the cynical, hardboiled detective who is never more than an hour away from his next drink, smokes a deadly brand of roll-your-own cigarettes and couldn't care less what others think about him.
The groundwork for what is to become a very popular and long running series is meticulously laid in White Meat establishing the tough no-nonsense detective with whom you can depend on an action-packed ride. Far more complex than a simple missing person story, Peter Corris introduces you to an essential fabric of Australian society in his books.
https://crimefictionhq.com/white-meat...
Noni was last seen in the company of a young Aboriginal man headed for the windswept Sydney suburb of La Perouse. From virtually the first moment Hardy steps foot into the suburb things start to go haywire and by the time he leaves the place there is a faceless corpse lying on the coastal rocks and he has a nasty gash on the back of his head. Pretty standard stuff for a Cliff Hardy investigation.
On the plus side, he has also managed to get a bit of information from an aboriginal man named Jimmy Sunday which is enough to send him racing up the New South Wales coast to the town of Macleay. Still thinking he is on the trail of the elusive Noni he finds himself caught up on the wrong side of some Italian mobsters looking to make a killing in the boxing game. On top of this complication he receives word that Noni is no longer missing - now she's kidnapped.
Far from being a normal kidnapping, everything about this feels wrong starting with the amount of money that has been demanded and on through to the amount of time it took to notify Ted Tarelton. Hardy takes charge with strong suspicions about the missing girl and plunges back into a complicated history of crooks, thieves, aboriginal boxers and the not too shabby sum of $100,000.
Wherever Cliff Hardy goes trouble and violence always follow but the fact that he starts his investigation in a Newtown boxing gym makes this assertion inevitable. His willingness to push people in the hope of shaking loose a reaction occasionally backfires and his methods aren't appreciated by the aboriginal ex-boxers he meets in both the inner Sydney suburbs and La Perouse. Not only does Hardy get results but he does so in a particularly lively and interesting way.
The drizzle had stopped and the clouds had peeled back leaving Newcastle squatting sullenly in a pool of moonlight. It opened its mouth and sucked me in.
Corris has a flair for description that makes even the most mundane scene quietly evocative. His delivery is, at times, exquisite and not without a healthy dose of biting good humour. Part of the appeal of the Cliff Hardy books is the presentation of the city of Sydney with the good highlighted equally prominently as the dingy.
An investigation that begins as a search for a runaway young woman becomes an involving family saga in which long hidden skeletons are unearthed and long held grudges are borne out. A cleverly interwoven secondary plot puts Cliff slap bang in the middle of a boxing scam with a bunch of Italian mob-like characters on one side and a community of aboriginal boxers on the other. It's a scenario that is destined to end badly for all concerned.
White Meat is vintage Cliff Hardy and, like the detective is a little rough around the edges occasionally drifting along aimlessly but ultimately firing up to provide a stinging resolution to a tightly woven story. As for Cliff Hardy, he is the epitome of the cynical, hardboiled detective who is never more than an hour away from his next drink, smokes a deadly brand of roll-your-own cigarettes and couldn't care less what others think about him.
The groundwork for what is to become a very popular and long running series is meticulously laid in White Meat establishing the tough no-nonsense detective with whom you can depend on an action-packed ride. Far more complex than a simple missing person story, Peter Corris introduces you to an essential fabric of Australian society in his books.
https://crimefictionhq.com/white-meat...
June 25, 2020
White Meat is book two in the Cliff Hardy series by Peter Corris. PI Cliff Hardy caught a case of missing daughter of wealthy bookie name Noni. However, for Cliff, this job was not as smooth going as he first thought. The readers of White Meat will continue to follow the twists and turns of Cliff's hunt to find Noni.
White Meat is enough fantastic book by Peter Corris. I love reading books in this series and the way Peter Corris portrays his characters. I like Peter Corris descriptions of his settings that ensured that I engage with the plot of this book. White Meat is well written and researched by Peter Corris.
The readers of White Meat will learn the dangers of drugs and how they can destroy a person and the people around then. Also, the readers of White Meat will learn about corruptions in the world of prizefighting.
I recommend this book.
White Meat is enough fantastic book by Peter Corris. I love reading books in this series and the way Peter Corris portrays his characters. I like Peter Corris descriptions of his settings that ensured that I engage with the plot of this book. White Meat is well written and researched by Peter Corris.
The readers of White Meat will learn the dangers of drugs and how they can destroy a person and the people around then. Also, the readers of White Meat will learn about corruptions in the world of prizefighting.
I recommend this book.
September 7, 2017
Cliff Hardy is the private eye’s private eye. Needs a scotch to get him started and numerous other drinks during the day to quench his thirst. Horse racing, gambling, boxing matches being fixed, a few romantic tales and life in the not-so-nice parts of Sydney were all covered in parallel with the actual case Hardy is on. And the case is a Corris special, a missing girl not missing, a mysterious unsolved bank heist, revenge, strong Aboriginal links and characters, numerous deaths and near deaths. A crime writer’s crime writer.
October 9, 2017
It's hard to believe that this was book #2 in the Cliff Hardy series; it's just like the latest books.
If you like "tough-guy" private detectives who drink hard and love even harder then you'll love Cliff Hardy. As a by-product the crime solving is not too shabby either.
Peter Corris knows how to draw and develop a character - Penny the picanini of La Parouse is an example of this.
White Meat has two themes; the search for a rich bookmaker's wayward daughter and a plot by Italian maffioso who are trying to muscle in on "the fight game". Its nice to see that each plot is resolved at a different time in the book. A lesser author would have simply wrapped it all up in the last chapter. As it is ... (now that would be a spoiler, wouldn't it :-) )
You can't go wrong picking any Cliff Hardy novel, their all good.
Highly recommended.
Regards,
Peter
If you like "tough-guy" private detectives who drink hard and love even harder then you'll love Cliff Hardy. As a by-product the crime solving is not too shabby either.
Peter Corris knows how to draw and develop a character - Penny the picanini of La Parouse is an example of this.
White Meat has two themes; the search for a rich bookmaker's wayward daughter and a plot by Italian maffioso who are trying to muscle in on "the fight game". Its nice to see that each plot is resolved at a different time in the book. A lesser author would have simply wrapped it all up in the last chapter. As it is ... (now that would be a spoiler, wouldn't it :-) )
You can't go wrong picking any Cliff Hardy novel, their all good.
Highly recommended.
Regards,
Peter
January 4, 2018
Cliff Hardy, Sydney based PI, is hired to find a missing woman. We travel with Hardy as he shakes down various people during his travels and Corris proves a deft touch with excellent character observations throughout. A cool read!
December 10, 2017
A real hard boiled smart talking private detective story.
January 27, 2018
OZ detective writer story was gritty but ok
December 14, 2023
Well, I'm officially hooked on Cliff Hardy - after reading the first, third and fourth books in the series, I just had to find the second book to fill in the gaps in Hardy's developing milieu... I couldn't get my hands on a copy anywhere, but the good old Internet Archive helped out where no-one else could - they are worth your support. Ironic that I had to read an American edition on an American site, but that's the way of the world in 2023.
White Meat is another tangled affair that sees Hardy enmeshed in the worlds of boxing, drugs, and Aboriginal Sydney. After being hired to find his local bookie's daughter, who has gone missing, Hardy finds himself deep in Redfern trying to track her down. The trail leads to rural New South Wales, where he realises that the girl in question (Noni) is in on her own kidnapping. There is also the question of the missing bank heist money, just who is the kidnapper's real father, and why so many people want to use Noni for their own ends.
Of the four Hardy novels I've read so far, this is the weakest in terms of style. There are too many clunky bits of writing that are trying too hard for the grunge/noir style that Corris is aiming at. Perhaps he tried to cram too much into this particular narrative container. The twists in the plot sometimes led me to backtrack just to make sure I knew what was going on, and the ending was a bit of a let-down.
That stated, White Meat was a page-turner, and hasn't put me off continuing what is rapidly turning out to be a summer of Hardy.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
White Meat is another tangled affair that sees Hardy enmeshed in the worlds of boxing, drugs, and Aboriginal Sydney. After being hired to find his local bookie's daughter, who has gone missing, Hardy finds himself deep in Redfern trying to track her down. The trail leads to rural New South Wales, where he realises that the girl in question (Noni) is in on her own kidnapping. There is also the question of the missing bank heist money, just who is the kidnapper's real father, and why so many people want to use Noni for their own ends.
Of the four Hardy novels I've read so far, this is the weakest in terms of style. There are too many clunky bits of writing that are trying too hard for the grunge/noir style that Corris is aiming at. Perhaps he tried to cram too much into this particular narrative container. The twists in the plot sometimes led me to backtrack just to make sure I knew what was going on, and the ending was a bit of a let-down.
That stated, White Meat was a page-turner, and hasn't put me off continuing what is rapidly turning out to be a summer of Hardy.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
February 2, 2025
Good solid Aussie crime story. Likeable larrikin main character.
December 21, 2025
The second Cliff Hardy novel. Same vibe as the first. Early 80s. Sydney detective. Can’t go wrong.
March 25, 2013
Pretty damn good.
September 22, 2015
Very rambly in parts, Corris tends to tell not show in these early books.
November 29, 2016
Another strong Cliff Hardy mystery. Enjoyed the (used to be, for me) local settings.
August 11, 2016
Entertaining !
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews