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Cliff Hardy #24
Lugarno
I was about to punch in the number when a man loomed up beside me. When I say loomed I mean loomed - he was tall and wide with a shaven head, and the pale hand that plucked the mobile from my grasp and threw it away was super-sized.
'Hey,' I protested.
He just stood there, a pace away now - a hundred kilos of bone and muscle in T-shirt and jeans. I had a gun and a tyre iron and I thought I'd need both to make an impression on him, but they were in the car. For now, it was just me.
When it's only 24 hours into a new case and PI Cliff Hardy's already been heavied, you know that the job is going to get his full attention. Cliff has been hired by high-flying consultant Martin Price to find out who's been supplying heroin to Price's teenage daughter - who in turn has got her beautiful young stepmother hooked.
The leafy, well-heeled suburb of Lugarno seems an unlikely hotbed of drug-dealing and corruption, but Cliff is finding out the hard way that crime and violence come calling even at posh waterside addressed.
'Hey,' I protested.
He just stood there, a pace away now - a hundred kilos of bone and muscle in T-shirt and jeans. I had a gun and a tyre iron and I thought I'd need both to make an impression on him, but they were in the car. For now, it was just me.
When it's only 24 hours into a new case and PI Cliff Hardy's already been heavied, you know that the job is going to get his full attention. Cliff has been hired by high-flying consultant Martin Price to find out who's been supplying heroin to Price's teenage daughter - who in turn has got her beautiful young stepmother hooked.
The leafy, well-heeled suburb of Lugarno seems an unlikely hotbed of drug-dealing and corruption, but Cliff is finding out the hard way that crime and violence come calling even at posh waterside addressed.
Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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37 people want to read
About the author
Peter Corris
154 books60 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
October 16, 2022
The 24th book in the Cliff Hardy private investigator series, Lugarno starts off in a fairly standard way as far as the genre is concerned, meeting with a client who is looking to hire him. Giving things a bit more substance, and to keep him on his toes, he immediately picks up a second (unpaid) job from an ex-girlfriend.
His paid job comes from Martin Price and he’s concerned his daughter, Danni, has gotten herself mixed up in drugs and would like Hardy to investigate to find out the full extent of her involvement. The fly in the ointment lies in the fact that a source claims that Danni is feeding Price’s wife’s drug addiction.
The unpaid job comes from Tess Hewitt, a recent ex, calling from Byron and she’d like him to track down her brother, Ramsey, who appears to have dropped off the map. Appearances can be deceptive and Hardy quickly picks up Ramsey’s trail by visiting the university he’s enrolled at but what he finds is that the young man appears to be somehow living well beyond his means. Now he has to work out how he can afford the course fees, the car and the house he’s living in.
Back to the Martin Price case and it quickly turns sour after a man he interviews is found dead the next day. The presence of Hardy’s business card in his pocket means the police are now anxious to talk to him. This ramps up substantially after Price’s wife dies of a drug overdose, again, a day after Hardy had visited her.
But along the way things start to take a turn for the unusual. He appears to be crossing paths with an unusually high number of male escorts…in both cases he’s working on. It seems that Cliff can’t move without bumping into handsome blonde young men from a particular agency. When he’s warned off by a heavy connected to the agency, that’s when he, predictably, really gets stuck in.
In a barely believable way, his two cases become intertwined and we head down a tawdry road of sex parties, male escorts and blackmail scams.
Ultimately, though, what we get here is quite a lot of sitting down and observing on Hardy’s part. This gives him quite a lot of time for reflection and much of it you get the feeling he’s not exactly in a happy place. This tends to cast a dark pall over the entire book, giving it a brooding attitude.
I felt that Lugarno is a fairly standard private detective story that never really reaches great heights. Hardy covers a lot of mileage around Sydney’s southern suburbs and picks through all of the lies being told to him to reach a…well, a conclusion of sorts. To be honest, I can’t really say that any of the cases he was working on throughout the book were completely solved or that any of the crooks were punished.
His paid job comes from Martin Price and he’s concerned his daughter, Danni, has gotten herself mixed up in drugs and would like Hardy to investigate to find out the full extent of her involvement. The fly in the ointment lies in the fact that a source claims that Danni is feeding Price’s wife’s drug addiction.
The unpaid job comes from Tess Hewitt, a recent ex, calling from Byron and she’d like him to track down her brother, Ramsey, who appears to have dropped off the map. Appearances can be deceptive and Hardy quickly picks up Ramsey’s trail by visiting the university he’s enrolled at but what he finds is that the young man appears to be somehow living well beyond his means. Now he has to work out how he can afford the course fees, the car and the house he’s living in.
Back to the Martin Price case and it quickly turns sour after a man he interviews is found dead the next day. The presence of Hardy’s business card in his pocket means the police are now anxious to talk to him. This ramps up substantially after Price’s wife dies of a drug overdose, again, a day after Hardy had visited her.
But along the way things start to take a turn for the unusual. He appears to be crossing paths with an unusually high number of male escorts…in both cases he’s working on. It seems that Cliff can’t move without bumping into handsome blonde young men from a particular agency. When he’s warned off by a heavy connected to the agency, that’s when he, predictably, really gets stuck in.
In a barely believable way, his two cases become intertwined and we head down a tawdry road of sex parties, male escorts and blackmail scams.
Ultimately, though, what we get here is quite a lot of sitting down and observing on Hardy’s part. This gives him quite a lot of time for reflection and much of it you get the feeling he’s not exactly in a happy place. This tends to cast a dark pall over the entire book, giving it a brooding attitude.
I felt that Lugarno is a fairly standard private detective story that never really reaches great heights. Hardy covers a lot of mileage around Sydney’s southern suburbs and picks through all of the lies being told to him to reach a…well, a conclusion of sorts. To be honest, I can’t really say that any of the cases he was working on throughout the book were completely solved or that any of the crooks were punished.
January 3, 2016
What can I say? Peter Corris is my favorite Australian author and I'm in love with Cliff Hardy (although my husband doesn't know that part yet!) His writing is so smooth, Hardy is such a developed character, with flaws, but those don't become the focus of his life. The cases he is solving are the focus. His own problems fill out the character, but they don't overwhelm like they do in some detective stories.
In this one, Hardy is hired to find the daugher of a rich man who thinks she is into drugs and got his arm candy second wife hooked on them. While the search proceeds, the wife dies. Of an overdose? Murdered? Now there's more to look into.
In addition, his former girlfriend can't get ahold of her ne'er-do-well brother and asks Hardy to see if he can find him.
Of course, the two investigations become intwined. And Hardy has to contend with going through many informal channels for information from the police, as always. Once again, they threaten to lift his private investigator license (this is pretty much a standard in all the books). But Hardy can't be stopped and, after he is "warned" by a bullet coming through his window and narrowly missing him, it becomes personal and nothing will stop him.
I just love Cliff Hardy and the way Peter Corris presents him. There's always something to learn about Hardy's personality and background, even in 42 books.
In this one, Hardy is hired to find the daugher of a rich man who thinks she is into drugs and got his arm candy second wife hooked on them. While the search proceeds, the wife dies. Of an overdose? Murdered? Now there's more to look into.
In addition, his former girlfriend can't get ahold of her ne'er-do-well brother and asks Hardy to see if he can find him.
Of course, the two investigations become intwined. And Hardy has to contend with going through many informal channels for information from the police, as always. Once again, they threaten to lift his private investigator license (this is pretty much a standard in all the books). But Hardy can't be stopped and, after he is "warned" by a bullet coming through his window and narrowly missing him, it becomes personal and nothing will stop him.
I just love Cliff Hardy and the way Peter Corris presents him. There's always something to learn about Hardy's personality and background, even in 42 books.
August 3, 2017
It's not about Lugarno :( Book may as well be called Riverwood, or Mortdale. In that respect, I am disappointed, but the book itself, is a steady Cliff Hardy diversion. :)
March 15, 2017
One of the better Cliff Hardy books. I enjoyed the depiction of Sydney's jaded upper crust in a posh suburb, and found this sordid story surprisingly credible. There is a more contemporary and diverse sexuality in this story than has been usual in the previous books in Corris' hard-boiled series. A number of the characters are compelling and the plot is effective.
February 15, 2020
Audiobook good read
September 24, 2021
Another really enjoyable Cliff Hardy novel. Fast paced and a real page turner.
August 14, 2020
A solid, if not quite classic, entry in the Hardy canon. There's missing playboys, drug addicted ex-models in posh Southern Sydney suburbia (hence the title), A cool showdown in Ivan Milat territory and more. Hardy is busy in this one, and is all over the place -- from Belmore to Bankstown to Brighton le Sands, to Strathfield.
December 13, 2021
Another great quick & entertaining read. Maybe not the best Cliff Hardy, but still very good.
May 24, 2015
there are a bunch of things i really like about this one.
very vague spoiler - it's the old "two cases turn out to be one" ploy. I mention it to say that it seems a very very large coincidence. but I must admit, I didn't care that bad. perhaps cause I knew it would happen it was a decent combination, aside from the author doing no leg work to make the circumstances come together motte artfully.
very vague spoiler - it's the old "two cases turn out to be one" ploy. I mention it to say that it seems a very very large coincidence. but I must admit, I didn't care that bad. perhaps cause I knew it would happen it was a decent combination, aside from the author doing no leg work to make the circumstances come together motte artfully.
April 25, 2016
I'm enjoying reading some of Peter Corris's great audio's on Borrowbox they're à great read. Cliff Hardy Is à terrific and entertaining private investigator to say the least although he is way to focused on drinking alcohol and having sex lolllllllllll where there's a will there's a way and Cliff Hardy definitely has that. A terrific crime thriller☺❤❤❤
January 18, 2016
A typical Cliff Hardy story. I like the narrator and the fact it is set in Australia. Many events mentioned in these novels will be easily remembered by most readers....at least if they are in their fifties.
February 17, 2013
I live just near luguarno. Corris always get the feel of where he writes about - great read
June 8, 2015
easy read, interesting plot.
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January 15, 2017Another great book.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews