The Bear Pit: A Scobie Malone Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Jon Cleary (Author)

Book Description

Series: Scobie Malone Mystery | Publication Date: December 4, 2001

Scobie Malone's job as a homicide cop is to try to keep murder at bay. His job as a father is to keep his family safe. Now, as the eyes of the world are turning toward his city, both of Malone's careers are in serious jeopardy. An important politician is murdered in high-profile public as his nation rushes toward center stage in the international arena. The assassination is clean and professional -- and senseless on the surface. Malone knows, however, that violent death is sometimes politics' strangest and darkest bedfellow. And before thousands of visitors descend on his city, the dedicated detective will have to put himself in the line of fire to flush out a killer. But he won't be alone in someone's rifle sight. An ambitious young reporter will be joining Scobie Malone in harm's way: his daughter.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jon Cleary is the author of more than forty novels, several of which have been adapted for feature films, including The Sundowners and High Road to China. He won an Edgar in 1974 for Peter's Pence and in 1995 was honored for Lifelong Contribution to Crime, Mystery, and Detective Genres at the Ned Kelly Awards for Australian crime fiction. All of the Scobie Malone mysteries are set in Sydney, Australia, where Cleary lives with his wife, Joy.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Avon (December 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380821117
• ISBN-13: 978-0380821112
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My fellow Americans! You don't know what you're missing!, March 18, 2002

By 

Rlyehian (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bear Pit: A Scobie Malone Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

Australian fiction is the best you will ever find (and I've read everything from King to Koontz) but 99% of books from Down Under are not released here in the United States. Why? I don't know. But I DO know what I've discovered. Jon Cleary's The Bear Pit : A Scobie Malone Mystery is fantastic! I've hunted down more Scobie Malone Mysteries over the internet and they're all great.

Other must reads by Australian authors are:

Any book written by Robert G. Barrett! (The Stephen King of Australia)
Peter Corris' Cliff Hardy stories! (As good as anything written by Nelson DeMille)
Blood Junction by Caroline Carver (As good as anything written by Dean Koontz)
Every book written by Peter Doyle! (Move over John Grisham)

My fellow Americans, fight to read the books the US publishers won't let you see! You will be glad you did.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Political assasination in Australia leads to mystery, January 4, 2003

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Bear Pit: A Scobie Malone Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)

Jon Cleary is one of the most prolific mystery novelists in the world, and it wouldn't be a surprise to find you've never heard of him. He's probably best known in the States for having written the adventure novel High Road to China, which was made into a Tom Selleck movie. In his native Australia, though, he's best known for a long series of police procedurals featuring Scobie Malone, a Sydney homicide inspector. According to the by the same author section of the front of this book, this is the 17th Scobie Malone mystery, and they're all good, and suspenseful. This one is especially intriguing and enigmatic.

Aussie politics are apparently somewhat dirty, but down under there are lines you don't cross, and political assasination is one of them. When a major Australian politician is gunned down eight months before the Olympics visit Sydney, everyone in politics is a suspect, and there are opportunities galore. Things are complicated for Malone by the involvement of two of his daughters, and his wife, in the Olympic preparations or the coverage of the assassination. Only his son is unentangled. When Scobie and his partner Russ Clements unravel things and begin to zero in on the shooter, this only intensifies the mystery, because no one is clear who hired him.

I enjoy Jon Cleary a great deal. The one thing that may be jarring is his habit of jumping to different points of view, which some may find jarring. I don't, personally, and I enjoy it. I would highly recommend this book.