Dark Summer by Jon Cleary

Publisher's Synopsis

When the body of informer Scungy Grime is found dumped in Inspector Scobie Malone's swimming pool, it is a clear warning for Malone not to pursue the homicide case he is trying to crack. Malone's family are put under police protection, but Scobie himself is determined not to be frightened off the job and leads the search for the murderer.

Scungy Grime turns out to be only the first victim of this killer, who injects his victims with curare; his death only one of a number of violent incidents connected with the investigation. In unravelling this complex web of crime Malone finds himself up against Sydney's drug king Danny Pelong, who is annoyed because an unknown newcomer is muscling in on his patch. He also becomes interested in the activities of retired big-time criminal Jack Aldwych, Aldwych's businessman son Junior and Junior's unlikely girlfriend Janis - a toughnut social worker who consels drug addicts.

Malone has a dangerous and difficult case on his plate. Worried for his family's safety, distracted by his partner Russ Clements' troublesome love life, with black news of the Gulf War and the bite of the economic recession casting gloom, this dark summer seems endless - until a vital clue appears and the case begins to unravel.

My Review of Dark Summer by Jon Cleary

January in Sydney and the temperature is scorching hot, the kind of weather that ensures that fuses are short and tempers are frayed. It's not the atmosphere to be annoying homicide detectives, particularly when the guy you're annoying is Inspector Scobie Malone.

Dark Summer is the 9th Scobie Malone mystery and takes place largely on the docks of Sydney as Malone and his partner Sergeant Russ Clements chase down a series of related murders with links to a new drug-smuggling ring.

To wake up one morning to the news that a dead body has been dumped in his backyard swimming pool was distressing enough, but the fact that the body was found by his 10 year old daughter leaves Scobie feeling simply murderous. The body is that of Scungy Grime, a man that Scobie was using as a snitch in a drugs-related murder case and this would be one of the most emphatic warnings he could receive.

It happens that Grime has quite a few links apart from the help he was giving Malone. The most interesting of these is his connection with former crime boss Jack Aldwych. Now retired, Jack virtually ran all of the organised crime in and around Sydney and so he appears as likely a place to begin the investigation as any. But Grime had another connection that is well worth following up. He worked on Sydney's docks, a lively source of corrupt activity and a place that would provide ample opportunity to get yourself knocked off.

Through Aldwych, Malone and Clements learn that there is a whisper of a local drug war that is about to take place as crime bosses line up to take over the running of the city's drug operations. Drugs and the docklands go hand in hand when thinking about major drug smuggling operations and their focus falls squarely on the port of Sydney where a forthcoming union leadership election already has everyone on tenterhooks.

To top all of this off, there is an alarming number of people either directly or indirectly related to the case turning up dead, murdered the same way. Namely, they are poisoned by a shot of curare administered by a needle in the bum.

A drug war and what looks like a killer tying up loose ends gives the case a decided urgency to the case and meanwhile the summer just seems to be growing hotter and hotter for Scobie Malone and Russ Clements.

The dramatic opening in Scobie's backyard is followed up with a hectic investigation that steams ferociously along, powered by the anger that comes from a policeman who feels his family has just been endangered. It makes for brisk action and an accelerated investigation that unfolds with barely a rest.

Thrown into the mix is the continued development of the character of Sergeant Russ Clements. Clements has now appeared in 6 of the 8 Scobie Malone books and the tough cop veneer has begun to crack revealing a thoughtful, caring man with a true heart of gold. For the first time we are treated to scenes featuring Clements without the presence of Malone, a significant first as he makes the transition into a more fully fleshed man rather than simply a sidekick.

Dark Summer is a tightly woven police procedural mystery that moves in a simple, linear fashion through a seething underworld of crime and criminals. However, for all the seemingly straight-forward nature of the investigation, Cleary manages to throw some curve balls Scobie's way keeping everyone off balance until the final desperate pages.

Now 9 books in, fans of the Scobie Malone series can be confident in what they are going to get when they pick up Dark Summer. A riveting mystery set in some of the more dangerous parts of Sydne, a family-oriented protagonist who will do anything to protect the people he loves, and an ending that rarely turns out the way you expect it to. This is a fine book for mystery fans everywhere.

Dark Summer is the first of a "series within a series" with the other books, Bleak Spring, Autumn Maze and Winter Chill providing an interesting look at the changing face of Sydney and Scobie Malone's part in it.