Broken Shore

Broken Shore by Peter Temple

May 11, 2017

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Born 1946, in South Africa; immigrated to Australia, 1980. Avocational Interests: Cabinetmaking, horse racing. Addresses: Home: Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

CAREER:

Worked as a journalist and editor for newspapers and magazines, including Australian Society; taught journalism, editing, and media studies at a number of universities; self- employed writer/editor, 1995--.

AWARDS:

Four Ned Kelly awards, for Bad Debts, 1996, Shooting Star, 1999, Dead Point, 2000, and White Dog, 2003; Colin Roderick Award, Federation for Australian Literary Studies, 2005; Duncan Laurie Dagger award, 2007, for The Broken Shore.

WRITINGS:

"JACK IRISH" SERIES  (Australian TV series, shown on PBS)

• Bad Debts, #1. 1996 (also, DVD, Series 1)
• Black Tide, #2  1999 ( DVD, Series 1)
• Dead Point, #3 2000 (DVD, Series 2)
• White Dog,  #4 2003
  

OTHER NOVELS

• An Iron Rose,1998.
• Shooting Star, 1999.
• Identity Theory, 2004
• The Broken Shore, 2007 (Australian movie for TV)
• Truth, 2010
  
• 
  

The Broken Shore

Shaken by a scrape with death, big ­city detective Joe Cashin is posted away from the Homicide Squad to a quiet town on the South Australian coast where he grew up. Carrying physical scars and not a little guilt, he spends his time playing the country cop, walking his dogs, and thinking about how it all was before. When a prominent local is attacked and left for dead in his own home, Cashin is thrust into a murder investigation. The evidence points to three boys from the nearby Aboriginal community; whom everyone wants to blame. But Cashin is unconvinced, and soon begins to see the outlines of something far more terrible than a simple robbery gone wrong.

Title Read­alikes

1. The ways of the dead by Neely Tucker, ­ Reason: Though the Broken Shore is set in a tiny Australian town, and The Ways of the Dead in Washington D.C's inner city, both well­ plotted, bleak mysteries focus on bigger, darker crimes obscured behind easy solutions with racist undertones. ­­ Shauna Griffin

2. Dry bones in the valley  by Tom Bouman Reason: Both are intricately plotted mysteries featuring rough, rural settings and harried, time­worn protagonists (a veteran cop in rural Pennsylvania in Dry Bones, an Australian detective on leave after an injury) who become entangled in murder cases clouded by class issues. ­­ Kim Burton

Author Readalikes

1. Pelecanos, George P. Reason: Both Peter Temple and George Pelecanos write dark crime stories that feature hardboiled detectives who walk the mean streets of their cities and are compelled to find the truth. With a strong sense of place, the books have taunt plotting, well developed characters, graphic violence, and a bleak outlook. ­­ Merle Jacob

Fun web site:

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/charles.html

and Asta has his own website:

http://www.iloveasta.com/ThinMan.htm

Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

March, 2016

PERSONAL INFORMATION:

Family: Born May 27, 1894, in St. Mary, MD; died of lung cancer January 10, 1961; Politics: Marxist. Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Army Ambulance Corps, 1918-19, became sergeant; U.S. Army Signal Corps, 1942-45, became sergeant.

CAREER:

Writer. Worked as freight clerk, stevedore, timekeeper, yardman, and railroad worker; private detective with Pinkerton National Detective Agency, c. 1914-l8 and 1919-21; Albert S. Samuels Jewelers, San Francisco, CA, advertising copywriter, 1922-27; worked sporadically as screenwriter for various motion picture studios from 1930 until after World War II. Active in various left-wing organizations, beginning 1937; member of Civil Rights Congress, New York state president, 1946, national vice-chair, 1948, New York state chair, 1951; convicted and imprisoned for contempt of Congress, 1951. Jefferson School of Social Sciences, faculty member, 1946-47 and 1949-56, member of board of trustees, 1948.

Hammett wrote more than 80 short stories and five novels: Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), The Maltese Falcon (1930), The Glass Key (1931) and The Thin Man (1934). He created tough guys Sam Spade and the Continental Op as well as debonaire sleuths Nick and Nora Charles. He wrote a comic strip ("Secret Agent X-9"), an original radio series ("The Fat Man") and worked on numerous scripts, often simply to polish dialogue. Hammett's crisp, colorful language brought gangster slang into everyday speech.

The Thin Man (Jan 1934)

Nick Charles searches for a wealthy inventor who is the prime suspect in a New York City murder case.

Return of the Thin Man: After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man [first publication Nov 2012]     Collects the two novellas that were the basis of the 1930s movies After the Thin Man and Another Thin Man, but were never published themselves, until now.

Dashiell Hammett is widely considered the father of hard-boiled detective fiction. Along with those of Caroll John Daley, Hammett's stories in Black Mask magazine helped to bring about a major movement in detective fiction away from the genteel detectives solving crimes perpetrated by masterminds, to rough, believable private eyes dealing with common crooks. In the words of Raymond Chandler, "Hammett took murder out of the Venetian vase and dropped it into the alley.... [He] gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not with hand-wrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish." Hammett's importance as a writer lies in his influence as an innovator, his impact as a stylist, and his skill in characterization.

READ ALIKES:

Chandler, Raymond, (1888-1959)  Reason:  If Dashiell Hammett is the father of "hard-boiled" detection, Raymond Chandler is a son to make him proud -- both feature private eyes who seek common criminals in a grittily realistic, 1930s-50s setting. -- Bethany Latham

Estleman, Loren D.  Reason:  Loren Estleman's protagonist, Amos Walker, and Dashiell Hammett's archetypal private eye Sam Spade are the quintessential hardboiled detectives, and Estleman also shares stylistic elements with Hammett - sharp dialogue, an exploration of the seamy underbelly of crime in a large city, and an ambience that evokes all the familiar tropes of noir. -- Bethany Latham

Gardner, Erle Stanley, (1889-1970)  Reason:  Though he's most famous for his lawyer crimesolver, Perry Mason, rather than a private eye, Erle Stanley Gardner's formula shares some elements which may appeal to fans of Dashiell Hammett's stories of realistic detection and the common criminals it uncovers, all within a 1930s to mid-century setting. -- Bethany Latham

Harvey, Michael T.  Reason:  Michael T. Harvey and Dashiell Hammett write noir fiction in a gritty, urban setting. Their stories feature tough, strong private eyes who take on the underside of society. -- Rebecca Sigmon

Kerr, Philip  Reason:  Philip Kerr's adult fiction shares with Dashiell Hammett's a pervasive film noir atmosphere and a penchant for brooding, complex protagonists who must often navigate morally ambiguous settings. -- Bethany Latham

[from NoveList and Artemis Literary Sources]