Australia
Whores, forgers and launderers of money

'A straightforward police story with a terrific plot, nuanced characters and solid procedures, served up on refreshing new turf. Done with smooth, assured mastery' New York Times

White Australia began as a penal colony - whores, pickpockets, forgers and murderers, guarded by a military garrison of grog peddlers - and some suggest it has gone downhill since then. Of course you can’t be too hard on a country that managed to get rid of Mel Gibson while luring Nicole Kidman back to its shores.

Australia does boast a rich and varied history of criminal behaviour, from the romanticised outlaws of colonial Australia to the globalised drug and money laundering networks of more recent times. Melbourne, frequently depicted as the more sober, staid and intellectual of the two main cities ("St Petersburg" to Sydney's "Tinseltown" as some have put it), has racked up some impressive crime statistics: there have been 30 deaths in the Melbourne "gangland wars" of the last few years.

The Mornington Peninsula, east of Melbourne, with its mix of farms, vineyards, beachfronts, holiday homes for the wealthy and caravan parks for urban fringe lumpenproletarians, provides the setting for Disher's classy police procedural series featuring DI Hal Challis and Sergeant Ellen Destry.

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Links
Disher website
ehlt.flinders.edu.au/ english/ GarryDisher/ GarryDisher.html

Disher-Crime bibliography
www.crimedownunder.com/ garrydisher.html

Disher-Dragon Man allreaders analysis
www.allreaders.com/ Topics/ info_26718.asp

Disher- Australian Authors and Books Database (OZLIT)
dargo.vicnet.net.au/ ozlit/ writers.cfm?id=229

Disher-Murray Waldren: Dass Verbrechen sich lohne. Über Garry Disher und seinen Roman »Drachenmann«
www.kaliber38.de/ features/ disher/ waldren.htm