Two novellas, connected by PI Jack Munro, COORPAROO BLUES and THE IRISH FANDANGO are an interesting historical hard-boiled combination of PI, mean streets, fallen women, drinking and the whole nine yards.

The first story, COORPAROO BLUES, introduces Jack, war veteran, ex-cop, nose for trouble, attractor of a simply staggering number of women, PI that you turn to when things are going to get nasty.

The second story, set a few months later, sees the US troop angle switched for political refugees and Communists around every corner, and a suicide that isn't.

So we're not exactly talking scenarios and a counter-hero of a type that we've not seen before. Albeit that Munro comes with a hefty dose of Australian colloquial language (so much so that they've included a glossary at the back of the book for those less used to the way that the common language can divide). He's also walking the seamier side of Brisbane at a period in history that not a lot of dark and noir current day fiction addresses. And it's done very well - the setting feels authentic, right down to the sense of heat and grime that comes with a Brisbane summer. We're also talking, mercifully a couple of intricate plots that were clever and well formed and resolved in two such short novellas.

The thing with this sort of crime fiction is always that there's a sense that attitudes of the time must be clear cut, all women are either whores or saints, all men gangsters or heroes. Even though Munro is a fair bit more nuanced than like hero's of the type, he is, a good bloke to have on your side in a tight spot and a man seemingly irresistible to any female within range. Definitely one for fans of noir, particularly as it's been a long time since Australia's mean streets have been explored in this way.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/coorparoo-blues-irish-fandango-gs-manson ( )

This book actually consists of two novellas.

The first, COORPAROO BLUES, introduces Jack Munro, ex-soldier, de-commissioned policeman turned private investigator. Jack has been hired to find an absentee husband who has gone missing in wartime Brisbane (1943), where US troops are mounting the defence of Australia. Jack's search for the missing husband turns up a link with a missing sailor, and connections with US MPs.

The language is gritty and colloquial, typical of the criminal underworld and the seamier side of Brisbane, and the glossary provided in the final pages of the book will get plenty of use.

The second story, THE IRISH FANDANGO, is set a few months later. The US troops have receded into the background, although obviously still there, and now we have political refugees and Communist activists. It begins with an apparent suicide being questioned and Jack is hired to find out why the dead man hung himself. Again, as in the earlier story, he touches nerves and begins to unearth things people want to keep hidden. As a veteran of World War One Jack is not backward in using violent methods to find out the truth, but then neither is the other side.

Despite the fact that the stories are relatively short (just over 120 pages each) the plots are fairly complex. Descriptions that give time and place to the settings feel authentic and are quite detailed.

This is a new area for Australian crime fiction and Jack Munro a quite different protagonist. A refreshing read, although I do wonder about its appeal outside Australia, mainly because of the colloquial dialogue. ( )