The Azanian Action

Ray Crawley #6

by Peter Corris

Based on a story-line by playwright and author Bill Garner, this crime thriller features Detective Ray Crawley and his investigation of the murder of a South African nationalist in Australia.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Peter 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.

Reviews

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Azanian Action is the sixth book in the Ray Crawley series by Australian author, Peter Corris. Crawley is called back from enjoying leave at Huck’s south coast hideaway in Coota Coota to watch over a South African activist seeking asylum in Canberra. Clair Mbotho claims to be married to aboriginal activist, Lester Rose, who is nowhere to be found. But before Crawley can get much information from Clair, they are attacked and she is murdered. His boss gives him the OK to investigate, but Crawley is suspicious that a bigger game altogether is afoot. He heads to Sydney to find a Zulu student at the (fictional) Milperra University, Wesley Keta, someone Clair named, but things soon get complicated. Crawley calls the retired Huck in to help out, and before long they are being pursued by two very nasty men dealing in the information marketplace. Although the mention of floppy discs and car phones dates this novel, the plot is original, the dialogue realistic and the characters believable, especially the smooth-talking, slippery Ray Crawley: Corris is the master of the laconic, cynical Aussie male with some hidden depths. Corris touches on black activism, information held by security agencies and journalists who write books. Another excellent Corris offering.