Andrew Lizard Zirk Books in Order

The Andrew Lizard Zirk novels are comic whodunnits that follow a retired rock star who stumbles into a second career as a sleuth. They are lighter and more playful than Dave Warner’s darker crime novels, swapping out police procedure for locked room style puzzles and show business satire.

Andrew Zirk is rich, a little snobbish and quite content to live off past hits until murder keeps interrupting the party. In Murder In The Groove he accepts an invitation to a celebration honouring Sydney Melbourne, a famously crude and successful musician. Before the night is over, Sydney is dead of an apparent overdose, his long time roadie has already been electrocuted and the guest list looks very much like a suspects list. Zirk’s eye for ego and backstage politics turns out to be useful when he begins to test alibis.

Murder in the Frame shifts the action from music to film. Zirk is lured out of seclusion by enfant terrible director Buzz Shaw, who wants him as a guest at a short film festival. When Buzz is found strangled with a roll of film, Zirk and his capable chauffeur Fleur find themselves navigating jealous actors, ambitious producers and critics with grudges, trying to work out who benefited most from Buzz’s death.

In Murder in the Off-Season Zirk decides that what he really needs is a holiday. He and Fleur head to a newly opened island resort in Indonesia, only to discover it is also hosting an Australian soccer team on their end of season trip. Pranks, team tensions and strange accidents soon escalate into something much more serious. Cut off from the mainland, Zirk has to untangle relationships within the touring party and the resort staff before the body count rises.

Across the series Warner tips his hat to classic mystery plotting. Clues are planted, suspects are sketched in vivid strokes and red herrings abound, but the tone stays breezy and irreverent. Zirk may be financially comfortable, yet he is repeatedly forced to decide what sort of man he wants to be when other people’s lives are at stake.

If you enjoy traditional puzzle mysteries but like them served with rock riffs, film references and a streak of Australian humour, the Andrew Zirk books are an easy series to dip into. Each novel stands alone, and you can comfortably start with whichever setting appeals most.