Jon Cleary Books in Order

Sydney bookmaker Frankie McCoy is drafted during the Second World War but deserts the army. Returning to familiar streets, he faces a broken relationship, gambling debts and mounting trouble as the military police pursue him.

Educated drifter Martin Brown is accused of murdering Ruth Taylor and becomes a fugitive in the Australian countryside. Pursued by police and other men, he finds a woman who believes in his innocence.

Returning from the war, Joe Brennan works as a milkman in Coogee and hopes to marry Connie. An accidental killing while defending a local gangster leaves him choosing between confession and concealing the body.

Paddy Carmody travels the Australian countryside with his wife Ida and son Sean, taking shearing and droving jobs. His attachment to the wandering life conflicts with their desire to settle somewhere they can call home.

Australian soldiers return from service in the Middle East to leave in Sydney, where romance and a submarine attack interrupt civilian life. Their next posting takes them into the dangers of a patrol in New Guinea.

Mounted policeman Justin Bayard escorts an Aboriginal prisoner through the Kimberley while warriors pursue them for revenge. Injured, Bayard seeks refuge at an isolated cattle homestead, where strained marriages and conflicting interests create further danger.

Racing driver Ham Rafferty refuses to retire after a narrow escape, frustrating his younger brother Taz's ambitions. A contract with an American tyre manufacturer and attraction to the man's daughter complicate an already hazardous profession.

A volcanic eruption in New Guinea forces a group of survivors to flee through the country. Their struggle for safety unfolds amid conflicting attitudes toward Australian colonial administration and the treatment of the local population.

A British plastic surgeon travels to Burma to visit his father and becomes entangled in lives far removed from his profession. A Catholic missionary, a rebel leader and a man-eating tiger complicate his stay.

Friends Duke and Matt build flying careers that take them from the Berlin Airlift to the Korean War and test piloting. Their ambitions eventually draw them toward the American space programme, testing a friendship shaped by aviation.

Sydney policeman Scobie Malone travels to London to arrest Australia's high commissioner for his first wife's murder. The diplomat requests time to finish peace-conference work, while an assassination threat makes Malone's assignment considerably more complicated.

American embassy official Paul Tancred faces divided loyalties in Lebanon as war approaches in 1967. An acquaintance's attempt to sell weapons forces him to balance protecting a friend against stopping a potentially disastrous arms deal.

An insurance adjuster accompanies his teenage son on tour after the boy becomes a pop idol. Confronted with fans, publicity and an unfamiliar music world, the father struggles to understand the life his child now leads.

Detective Sergeant Scobie Malone investigates a young woman's death in Sydney as the Opera House takes shape. Helga's involvement in blackmail leaves him tracing the dangerous relationships and secrets surrounding a game he could not interrupt.

American priest McKenna works in a remote Bolivian village, trying to earn the trust of his impoverished Indigenous parishioners. Centuries of cruelty and exploitation stand between his intentions and the community he hopes to serve.

Henry Aiden, the ninth marquess, rises through Conservative politics in a changing Britain. Affairs strain his marriage to Constance, while his children's choices challenge the assumptions of an aristocratic family confronting the erosion of traditional privilege.

Scobie Malone's New York honeymoon turns into a hostage crisis when anarchists abduct his wife alongside the mayor's wife. Their demand for imprisoned comrades' release clashes with the mayor's law-and-order election campaign, leaving Malone personally involved.

An IRA scheme to steal treasure from the Vatican draws in an Irish-American journalist. When the operation takes an unexpected turn and the Pope becomes a hostage, the conspirators face consequences far beyond their intended robbery.

In postwar Germany, concentration-camp survivor Luise Graz prepares to leave a displaced persons camp for Palestine. An underground organiser's sudden departure plan raises difficult choices about children, sick travellers and the dangers of crossing guarded borders.

Arriving in Montana for a job managing timber operations, a newcomer encounters his employer's murder. Working for the dead man's widow draws him into a world where political ambition, romantic attraction and valuable land complicate the crime.

A botanical expedition in Bhutan prepares to return to India after months of fieldwork. The arrival of an Indian colonel with a captured Chinese general brings pursuing troops into camp, transforming the scientists' departure into danger.

As a tornado approaches Friendship, Missouri, the police chief inspects a farmhouse damaged by an earlier storm. A prominent woman's body lies in the ruins, confronting him with suspicious circumstances while the town faces approaching destruction.

Sydney doctor Stephen McCabe takes a working holiday with Western Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service. When the doctor in charge is injured, McCabe must take responsibility for the practice and confront a series of unfamiliar crises.

In 1920, American heiress Eve Tozer learns that a Chinese warlord has kidnapped her father. She hires two pilots for a flight from England to China, hoping to deliver the ransom before time runs out.

Nina, Margaret, Sally and Prue grow up as the daughters of wealthy Kansas City magnate Lucas Beaufort. Accustomed to getting what they want, the sisters pursue love and pleasure while discovering the limits of their father's money.

American coastwatcher Mullane undertakes a mission to locate a camouflaged Japanese airstrip in New Britain. Accompanied by an Australian officer and a Japanese prisoner, he also confronts the wartime legacy of his own wife's death.

In 1911, political agent Clive Farnol hears of a plot to assassinate King George V at Delhi's Durbar. Travelling south to investigate, he becomes a target himself and encounters an American journalist whose politics oppose his.

During Russia's 1917 revolution, American oil prospector Matthew Cabell befriends a prince, princess and their English governess. Travelling toward the Caspian Sea in the family's Rolls-Royce, they face upheaval and danger across a country in turmoil.

Cleo Spearfield, daughter of an Australian senator, pursues a journalism career that takes her to Vietnam. Disillusioned with the treatment she receives at home, she moves toward London's newspaper world and a ruthless publisher.

United States Navy friends Kenji Minato and Tom Akada enter Japan undercover near the end of the Second World War. Their mission to assess the Peace Faction tests loyalties while bombing and a growing romance complicate their work.

Hollywood actress Cathleen O'Dea arrives in Berlin to make a film in the final weeks before war. Her real purpose is finding her missing mother, as conspiracies, Nazi politics and threatened romances entangle those around her.

During Australia's bicentenary celebrations, Scobie Malone investigates the murder of an aide to an exiled Pacific president. The bullet appears intended for the former leader, forcing Malone to find an assassin before another attempt is made.

A nun's body is discovered outside a Sydney brothel, sending Scobie Malone into an investigation involving a powerful businessman's family. Wealth, political influence and ambitions within the church create barriers as he examines the victim's past.

In 1942, five men and a Dutch woman attempt to escape Sumatra as Japanese forces advance. Soldiers and civilians with different backgrounds must face the hazards of their journey while tensions threaten to break their group apart.

Bones discovered in the hills reopen Scobie Malone's investigation into Sir Walter Springfellow's disappearance years earlier. Another death in the family and pressure from the police commissioner complicate a case involving wealth, ambition and divided loyalties.

A sniper killing in Sydney draws Scobie Malone toward a businessman connected to organised crime and his own police-academy past. Further deaths suggest former classmates are targets, making old relationships newly dangerous for the detective.

Scobie Malone's country holiday is interrupted by the murder of a Japanese businessman in Collamundra. Racial tensions, resistant local authorities and an unresolved killing from seventeen years earlier complicate his investigation in the prosperous cotton town.

An informer in Scobie Malone's drug investigation is found dead in his family's swimming pool. Police protection disrupts his home life as further killings lead the detective into Sydney's docklands and the operations behind its drug trade.

The murder of suburban lawyer Will Rockne becomes personal for Scobie Malone because their children are dating. Investigating the solicitor's wealth uncovers connections to a bookmaker, offshore banking and a threatening Russian with multiple identities.

The death of the Sydney police minister's son draws Scobie Malone into a politically sensitive investigation. Financial schemes and calculated killings complicate the case, while pressure from powerful figures forces him to seek help from an old criminal adversary.

An American lawyer attending a vast convention in Sydney is shot dead. When the security guard who discovered the body is also killed, Scobie Malone investigates the linked deaths amid the crowds gathered at Darling Harbour.

Someone in Sydney is killing men responsible for attacks on the gay community. Scobie Malone pursues a dangerous vigilante whose intelligence and elusiveness complicate an investigation that also confronts prejudice and conflicting ideas about justice.

After a tense dinner with a wealthy publishing family, Scobie Malone investigates the killing of its patriarch, Sir Harry Huxwood. A proposed newspaper sale, inheritance disputes, and long-held secrets give several relatives reasons to conceal the truth.

Scobie Malone's family dinner is interrupted when an assassin kills three men in a Chinese restaurant. One victim's investment in a troubled Olympic housing development draws the detective into a financial scheme threatening Sydney's preparations for the Games.

A fugitive's arrest leads Scobie Malone to investigate troubling allegations against a respected Crown Prosecutor. Meanwhile, the abduction of a child model exposes a disturbing family life, forcing him to weigh the consequences of uncovering the truth.

As Sydney prepares to welcome international visitors, a prominent politician is assassinated in public. Scobie Malone searches for the professional killer while his daughter's work as a reporter places her in the same line of danger.

Two murders at the same Sydney hotel draw Scobie Malone into a case involving the American ambassador's wife. Pressure from intelligence agencies complicates his investigation, while an unexpected connection to a former girlfriend makes the inquiry personal.

A housemaid's death in a dotcom millionaire's penthouse leads Scobie Malone to a kidnapping gone wrong. Mistaken identity, financial collapse, and debts to the Yakuza complicate what may be his final investigation with Sydney's homicide unit.

The private secretary of a powerful property developer is found murdered with sensitive company documents in her possession. Scobie Malone investigates possible links between her death, questionable financial dealings, and the ambitions surrounding the Orlando Development Company.

Aspiring actress Adele pursues professional success while beginning an affair with television reporter Jack. Their attraction develops rapidly, but her reluctance to deepen the relationship leaves the romantic journalist questioning what stands between ambition and lasting commitment.

Twin sisters Marie and Louise remain close despite increasingly different fortunes. Divorced and adrift, Louise struggles with envy of Marie's success, but a tragedy forces her to reconsider those feelings and decide how far she will go to protect her sister.

Australian politician Matt Durban pursues his party's leadership as the demands of public life bear on his private world. The story follows both his political ambitions and his marriage to Carmel, examining the personal pressures surrounding his career.