 Book Reviews
with Robin Osborne
The Coast Road
By Peter Corris
Allen & Unwin $19.95
 Since emerging from the fertile imagination of ex-academic, Peter Corris, two-plus decades ago, private investigator Cliff Hardy has biffed, bumbled and boozed his way into the popular literary consciousness. Time may have slowed him but the pace of the novels is unflagging, and this latest caper finds him dashing from Sydney to Wollongong, along the coast road of the title, stirring up a hornet's nest of corrupt cops, dodgy insurance agents, shadowy businesspeople and violent bikies.
In between, he's enchanted by the gypsy-like Marisha Karatsky, a translator whose daughter Kristina, a 'Silken Touch' brothel worker, has gone missing.
The major plot focuses on the mysterious burning of a weekender in the Illawarra, owned by one Frederick Farmer, who died in the blaze. His trophy wife, the scheming Matilda Sharpe-Tarleton, has established a successful property business on the strength of his sizeable estate.
Hardy is hired to investigate the matter by Farmer's daughter Elizabeth, who works in the linguistics department at Sydney University and is a happily married lesbian.
"She married him for his money and led him a merry dance," Dr Farmer tells Hardy at their first meeting. "Tried to make him do things he was past doing - overseas trips, gym workouts, golf pro-ams. She even talked him into opening up another real estate agency when he swore he'd done with all that."
Hardy, as 'Gerard Lees, Security Consultant', visits the widow's prosperous business to see for himself.
It wouldn't be a Hardy book if the fists didn't fly early and often, and amidst the wit, intrigue and wine-fuelled bedroom activity there is adequate biffo to keep fans happy.
"Harry was big, 190 centimetres plus, going on a hundred kilos, some of it blubber, not all... I put my left shoulder hard into his sternum and gave him a solid right to the ribs at the same time. Double whammy. The fight and the breath went out of him in a long whoosh... Keep your day job, mate, whatever it is. You'll never make it as a tough guy."
Soon, Hardy will be perilously close to bye-byes himself, but he is saved by a decent cop and goes on to discover plans to establish an underground speed and ecstasy lab and hydroponic cannabis operation.
By novel's end, Hardy has his regulation bruises, his fee cheque (how much does he earn?) and, no doubt, more fans eagerly awaiting his next exploits.
- Books reviewed are available at Book Warehouse in Lismore, Ballina, Grafton, Yamba, and Coffs Harbour.
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