Open File (Cliff Hardy series) [Paperback]

Peter Corris (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cliff Hardy series | Publication Date: March 26, 2010

Cliff Hardy, with his PI license cancelled and his career in Sydney at an end, is preparing for a trip overseas. Cleaning out his office, he comes across an open file—an unresolved case from the 1980s. As he starts reading he’s thrown back to his investigation of the disappearance of Justin Hampshire. At first glance this investigation was a straightforward missing person matter, but the investigation took on twists and turns involving military history, Sydney criminals, and corruption at high levels that caused it to remain unsolved. The Hampshire case took Cliff from the south coast to the Blue Mountains and posed some unresolved questions which have preyed on his mind continuously since it opened. Now, 20 years later, will he finally be able to put the case to rest?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Cliff Hardy, the Australian private investigator, has had his license revoked. With a bit of money put aside and no pressing matters to attend to, he decides to take a trip and perhaps think about what he might want to do with himself, now that he has no career. While he’s packing up some old papers, he comes across an open case from the late 1980s. It was a particularly intricate case that began with a missing-persons investigation; remembering it now, Hardy is transported back to the (relatively) early days of his career, when he was younger, brasher, and perhaps a bit more foolhardy. After Appeal Denied (2008), readers might have wondered if the Hardy series was coming to an end. Thankfully, this doesn’t appear to be the case, although this “placeholder” novel (which takes us out of sequence, into the past) could be the author’s way of figuring out in what direction he wants to take the series. Whatever the reason for the journey down memory lane, fans of this consistently entertaining series will be thrilled to see that Hardy doesn’t appear to be going anywhere just yet. --David Pitt

Review

"Fans of this consistently entertaining series will be thrilled to see that Hardy doesn't appear to be going anywhere just yet."  —Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin; First Edition edition (March 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1741754178
• ISBN-13: 978-1741754179
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #881,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars The gutty underside of life down-under, January 2, 2012

By 

keetmom (South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Open File (Cliff Hardy series) (Paperback)

Peter Corris has been dubbed the "godfather" of Australian crime writing and after 35 outings by Sydney PI Cliff Hardy, the title is deserved. However, he is not well known outside his home country and, Kindle excepted, his books are very hard to track down. Open File is one of his more recent books and it contains a clever device for Hardy to travel back in time and recount a case from earlier in his career. Like most literary private investigations (and probably most real life ones too), Hardy is damaged goods - there are few rules in his profession, and Hardy can mix it up with the best (worst) of the compromised and criminal characters he encounters. And there are plenty of those in this story from petty crooks and wayward wives to brutal underworld bosses and over-reaching politicians. This is not the Australia featured in the tourist brochures, but a realistic representation of aspects of contemporary life in any major world city. Hardy has seen enough of this to warrant his cynicism but not enough to have destroyed his inner goodness which peeps through on occasion and allows him (and the reader) to retain some hope for humanity.

5.0 out of 5 stars Australian writers, May 25, 2010

By 

Morris L. Greb "MLGLAW" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Open File (Cliff Hardy series) (Paperback)

I have recently read six of Peter Corris' books and I just ordered his newest one. I have also read Nick Gadd's 'Ghostlines" and a number of books by Gary Disher's mysteries. All of whom are great authors from 'down under'. Any Corris book is fabulous. It's great to read about the culture which is an exciting part of each book.