The Washington Club — Peter Corris

Cliff Hardy''s 19th case—one of his grittiest yet

The Washington Club takes Cliff Hardy to the edge. He might never work again. Claudia Fleischman is beautiful, rich, intelligent . . . and has just been charged with the murder of her developer husband. Hardy, hired to look into the background of the case, is soon up to his neck in trouble. When his car is blown up and then a friend is killed, Cliff finds himself with a personal stake in the action. His investigations introduce him to the shadowy world of corporate high-fliers at Sydney''s exclusive Washington Club and bring him into contact with loose cannon ''Haitch'' Henderson and his soft but unpleasant pimp of a son, Noel. In one of his grittiest cases ever, Hardy has to take drastic action before the pieces fall into place and very rough justice is seen to be done."