Cliff Hardy starts out to help a friend but before long he’s looking for an enemy, William Mountain – boozer, TV scriptwriter, would-be novelist who is missing and searching for adventure. Mountain is the dealer in a deadly game and the hands he deals become more and more bizarre.

This collection of stories finds Cliff Hardy in his usual milieu of inner Sydney mixing with the good, the bad and the quirky as he works on his cases.With his wisecracks and fists in readiness, Hardy goes about his daily business of tracking delinquent arsonists, hired killers and missing girlfriends, protecting eye surgeons and radio announcers, solving old crimes and helping past acquaintances in the underworld.Always on the outside, but his sympathies with the underdog, Hardy's cases are never what they seem and his solutions are not always what the client expects. All in all, normal time for Cliff Hardy but a great deal more for his readers.

Is brilliant young filmmaker Carmel Wise the innocent victim of gangland violence or is she enmeshed in a pornography racket as the press and the police imply? Carmel's businessman father hires Cliff Hardy to find the real reason 'the video girl' was shot dead outside the Greenwich Apartments in Kings Cross. Hardy follows a trail which is broken but clear - houses and flats with the power on and the rent paid, stand empty; photographs and other documents lead to Lionel Darcy, owner of the Champagne Cabaret; banks and business houses will supply just enough information to keep Hardy warm. The trail takes him to the sunny peninsula, leafy Lane Cove and the industrial waterfront. Hardy finds that every question and every answer has to be paid for in pain and fear. And to some questions there may be no answers at all...'Indigenous thrillers are better than any others, and the best of all are Peter Corris' accounts of his Sydney private detective, Cliff Hardy.' - Mark Thomas, Canberra Times

For almost four decades Peter Corris was known as 'the godfather of Australian crime fiction', and Cliff Hardy has been Australia's favourite private investigator since he solved his first case in 1980. This selection of stories starts with Cliff's early days driving round Glebe in his battered Falcon, drinking at the Toxteth Hotel and taking on cases that more often than not leave him as battered as his car. As Cliff becomes older and wiser, he prefers to use his head more than his fists, but the cases are as tricky as ever and Hardy's clients lead him to the murkiest surroundings.To further celebrate Peter Corris's legacy, editor Jean Bedford has also included a selection of his columns on the world of crime and crime writing, along with his 'ABC of Crime Writing'. From Adultery to Yeti, via Gumshoe, Hit man and The Mob, this entertaining compendium gives a fascinating insight into Peter's vast knowledge of the genre.Peter Corris was the author of nearly ninety books...

'When beautiful young women kiss you on the cheek you know you're over the hill, but I didn't really feel like that. As Wesley said, I still had the moves.'Cliff Hardy may still have the moves but he's in trouble. The economy's tanking and he's been conned by an unscrupulous financial advisor and lost everything he's got. Cliff only knows one way, and that's forward, so he's following the money trail. WC It's a twisted road that leads him down deep into Sydney's underbelly, into the territory of big money, bent deals, big yachts and bad people. Cliff's in greater danger than ever before, but he's as tenacious as a dog with a bone.             

'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.