Books & Reviews
The Case of the Hood With No Hands
Winner of silver in the 2012 Independent Publishers Awards.
She’s a surgeon, she’s beautiful and she desperately wants Mister Rainbow to shed some light on her husband’s past. But when he does, she wishes he hadn’t. Because what Rainbow discovers is a handless hood – and a whole lot of murders.
Rainbow’s a retro private eye who keeps himself to himself. He lives (illegally) on a boat in Sydney Harbour, has no identity, and frequents speakeasies. He’s also got a nemesis called Pandora …
The Case of the Death of a Ladies’ Man
When Mister Rainbow finds a headless honcho in a Kings Cross alleyway, the tattoo around the corpse’s neck leaves little doubt as to its identity. Thomas L. Tycho was everybody’s enemy – a trickster, a dirty dealer, and a wide boy who made the mistake of wide boys the world over – not making himself narrower when the gun went off.
The killer’s identity, however, proves more elusive …
The Case of the Bullets at the Ballet
A trip to Paris in the company of a beautiful dame would be many men’s idea of heaven. But a flight to France with the gorgeous Helen Damnation rapidly spirals into a journey to hell.
Rainbow’s daughter is missing and he doesn’t know who’s taken her – or why. Nor does he know where she might have gone, until he enlists the help of a childhood mate – now a spy – Ace Mollema. But can he trust the spook? Or the beautiful dame, for that matter? Above all, can he save the kid?
The Case of the Horses for Corpses
When a few too many dead bodies turn up on Sydney’s mean streets, Mister Rainbow’s too busy to investigate – until an old flame goes up in smoke.
Then it’s no holds barred as the famous PI with the dancing feet finds himself pitted against the city’s crooked gamblers – and the dame determined to whip them into line …
The Case of the Cock Robin Killer
Rainbow’s got the blues. His girlfriend’s dumped him; his assassin mate Rory’s found God; his Aunt Rube’s as sick as a bad joke; and his ex-wife’s thrown up a barricade – all right, a cordon bleu – around his daughter Imogene.
So when a snake’s let loose in a laboratory, his ballet teacher’s under siege and a nasty little joker by the name of Cock Robin cops it, Rainbow climbs into the ring because it’s his job – but also because he needs the distraction.
The Case of the Morgue The Merrier
The kid's in a state - and if he doesn't play his cards right that could read Islamic State. Terrorists want to recruit him but he's too terrified to oblige. Instead he calls in Rainbow who finds himself in the thick of an affair that threatens to end in a bloodbath.
Can Rainbow prevent it? How can his gorgeous former girlfriend help? Is Babychino - the beautiful dame who suddenly be bops into his life, complete with equaliser - all she's cracked up to be? And what's happened to his daughter Imogene?
The Case of the Nightmare In Nimbin
You think your phones are bugged and people are out to get you. Everyone's a suspect and violence is the answer to everything. Put bluntly, you're a psychopath who might one day kill a loved one in mistake for the devil. You describe your nemesis as "horribly scarred" one day and "beautiful" the next. The reason for that discrepancy is simple - Pandora doesn't exist.
So says the shrink. In what could be his last case, Rainbow has to prove Pandora or accept that he's mad - a psychpoath capable of killing innocent people.
Mr Rainbow - The Omnibus Edition; Vol 1
The two volumes in the Mister Rainbow collection, of which this is the first, bring together the seven sensational stories in this acclaimed detective series – 21st century cases with a wink and a nod to the golden age of pulp fiction spearheaded by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
With their memorable characters, witty dialogue and fast-paced plots, the Rainbow series announces the arrival of an arresting new Australian talent.
Volume 1 contains The Hood with No Hands, The Death of a Ladies’ Man and Horses for Corpses.
Mr Rainbow - The Omnibus Edition; Vol 2
The two volumes in the Mister Rainbow collection, of which this is the second, bring together the seven sensational novellas in this acclaimed detective series – 21st century cases with a wink and a nod to the golden age of pulp fiction spearheaded by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
With their memorable characters, witty dialogue and fast-paced plots, the Rainbow series announces the arrival of an arresting new Australian talent.
Volume 2 contains: Bullets at the Ballet; The Cock Robin Killer; The Morgue the Merrier and Nightmare in Nimbin.