Taking Care of Business by Peter Corris

Publisher's Synopsis

Cliff Hardy is no financial genius. But in Taking Care of Business he pursues white-collar crime with the same doggedness he applies to his more downmarket villains.

Hardy's tasks are many and his clients are from all walks of life. He is minder for Thomas Whitney, the highly strung whistleblower, whose company is siphoning off money through Vanuatu. He is hired by computer genius Charles Marriott, whose shady dot com partner wants control of the business and is letting nothing and no one get in his way. And ever keen for some spare cash, he even takes a case from Spiro, his local florist, whose son seems to be involved in some very dodgy business involving tobacco and big bucks.

This collection of stories featuring Australia's favourite PI is fast-paced and entertaining. It reads in the best Corris style.

My Review of Taking Care of Business by Peter Corris

The 28th Cliff Hardy book, Taking Care of Business is a collection of short stories, some of which have been published elsewhere and others found here for the first time. The idea is to provide us with some of the smaller cases that Hardy might find himself working and they each involve white collar crimes.

There are no earth-shattering cases to be found among this lot although Hardy does come up with some intuitive detective work on occasion. There are 11 stories in all and I’ll run you through a quick summary of each to give you an idea of what you can expect.

A Gift Horse - Hardy picks up a surveillance job for an insurance company to confirm that the woman claiming to be injured in the workplace is on the level. It turns out it’s the insurance company that should need investigating and Hardy gets straight to the heart of the matter. (3.5 stars)

Death Threats - a very short one in which Hardy helps out an aboriginal golfer who has been receiving death threats. (3 stars)

Whatever It Takes - Hardy has to go to Nimbin to serve a man papers and bring him back to Sydney for a court appearance. It doesn’t exactly go smoothly, gets himself into a little scrap and has to get innovative. (4 stars)

The Pearl - another short one in which Hardy is asked to investigate an art theft. This is a rather convoluted story of deception. (2 stars)

Solomon’s Solutions - one of the stronger stories in the book. Hardy is hired to bodyguard for an IT whizz whose company is about to be floated. This is full of good intrigue and business finangling, an interesting twist and the odd hairy moment. (4.5 stars)

Cocktails For Two - a gay rock singer with AIDS was responding well to the cocktails of drugs he was taking before he went away on tour. After the tour he suddenly stopped responding to the treatment and died. Police say AIDS related death, his partner believes murder and wants Hardy to investigate. (3.5 stars)

Black Andy - this is another bodyguard case. Black Andy Piper, a former corrupt cop, is writing a tell-all book that will have crims, police and politicians coming after him and he wants Hardy to provide protection. (3 stars)

Globalisation - Hardy travels west of Nyngan to help out an old mate. He gets involved in a life threatening fight over a community bank. This story evokes stark images of the desperation and despair felt in the remote rural communities. (4 stars)

Christmas Shopping - the CEO of a firm that owns a shopping complex is having problems with petty crimes eating into its profits. It’s as if someone is targeting the centre and the CEO wants Hardy to investigate. (2.5 stars)

Insider - Hardy does a job for a legal firm who wants him to protect an investment advisor who appears to be running some type of embezzlement scam. His task is to keep the adviser alive so he can speak to ASIC with the goal of exposing other white collar crims. (3.5 stars)

Chop Chop - a friend of Hardy’s is concerned that his son may be involved in an illegal tobacco growing business. He does a little bit of checking and then has to devise a way of getting the son clear of what looks to be an inevitable arrest. (3 stars)