Reading : The Big Score by Peter Corris

I’m currently reading the latest Cliff Hardy book by Peter Corris, The Big Score. This is another collection of short stories featuring the tough Sydney private enquiry agent.

The stories are obviously fairly recent because Cliff has the use of a mobile phone, doesn’t smoke, uses Viv Garner as his solicitor and is going out with Lily. But they also fall before his last novel, Appeal Denied, because Cliff still holds his PEA license.

I am partway through the 5th of 11 stories that make up the book and they have all been consistently punchy, running to around 10 pages per story. As in real life, not all of Cliff’s investigations end neatly or satisfactorily, often times we just have to content in knowing who dunnit and how rather than the fact that they are going to pay for doing it.

Each story exhibits the usual display of guts and/or ingenuity on Hardy’s part and, for fans of the series, continues on the solid tradition that has made the series so popular for so long in which Hardy wades in boots and all and bugger the sensitivities of those around him.

Book Details:
The Big Score by Peter Corris
pub. Allen & Unwin
ISBN. 9781741752236
214 pages