Matrimonial Causes by Peter Corris

Publisher's Synopsis

'Tell me about your first case Cliff. You must remember it.'
'Sure, but Christ, I haven't thought of that in a long, long time.'
'What was it about?'
'Back then? Divorce - what else? But there was a bit of perjury, fraud and murder as well.'

The early 70s, and in Cliff Hardy's first case there were perjury, fraud, murder, crooked cops, lawyers, PIs and a call girl - scarcely an honest citizen in sight.

Hardy was caught in the middle with a client he couldn't trust and nothing but questions for guidelines. In the end his survival became more important than the answers.

My Review of Matrimonial Causes by Peter Corris

Matrimonial Causes is the 17th book in Peter Corris’ Cliff Hardy private detective series. The Sydney-based detective has been through many gruelling cases, some of which have put him in the gravest of danger, but he has managed to scrape through each and every one of them. But the endless array of cases is starting to take its toll and Hardy is becoming even more jaded and cynical.

Fortunately even private detectives have the opportunity to take some time out for some much needed R&R and this is where we find Cliff Hardy as this book opens.

While on holiday with his latest girlfriend, Glen Withers, Hardy recounts the story of his first case. It takes us back to the period when Cliff was married to Cyn and we get a far more detailed impression of the stormy relationship around which their marriage was based. We also get a better insight into the way in which a younger Cliff Hardy conducted his investigations.

Very early on in his recounted memories we are given a keen insight into the nature of the marriage to Cyn. It is clear that the problems were deep set and doomed to failure even at this early stage.

“Cyn and I disagreed about almost everything and fought all the time. We were incompatible but, in our many separations, inconsolable. Neither of us knew what to do about it. My main stratagem was to drink too much; Cyn’s was to work too hard as a junior member of a very forward-looking Balmain architecture firm.”

The case starts out as a divorce job for a solicitor and Hardy is employed to gather evidence that the husband is playing around on his wife. But when he waits outside the apartment building with his camera in his hand, he is shocked to witness his target being shot as he came out of the building with his girlfriend. His very first case has quickly fallen apart and the first of his many run ins with the police takes place.

There is a lot more at stake in this case than the divorce settlement that Hardy has been told about. For starters, the “girlfriend” of the man who was killed was actually a high-price call girl and she had been hired to make it only appear as though the man was cheating. This revelation opens up a far more complex operation that involves arranging divorces for the wealthy.

Using the advice given to him by the private detective who taught him the ropes, Hardy makes an attempt to co-operate with the police in a bid to develop an alliance that would prove beneficial in the future. It is a choice that appears to be successful but hardly in a way that was anticipated.

Even in his early days Cliff Hardy displays the grit and determination that would serve him well throughout his PI career. What is certainly noticeable, and props to Corris for being able to convey this so well, is that Hardy is raw and inexperienced throughout this case. He tries to apply the small amount of training and experience to his job but inevitably falls short and this proves costly in some crucial decisions. There is a real sense that we are going through the learning process with him.

Matrimonial Causes is a chance to take a step back in time so that a clearer picture of what makes Cliff Hardy tick can be provided. The troubled marriage to Cyn and his love/hate relationship with the police is explained which also provides readers of the series to this point with many answers to questions which were bidden by the later books in the series.