The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender

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Allen & Unwin, May 1, 1998 - Fiction - 176 pages
Claudia Valentine must play a deadly high-tech game with the menacing overlord of Sydney's cancerous network of crime and corruption in Marele Day's wryly humorous, witty and fast-paced mystery.

From the author of the bestselling Lambs of God.

Mark Bannister, writing 'the bestseller of the century' is found dead at his computer - the victim of a murder so perfect that Claudia Valentine smells a rat. and wants it caught.

The chase leads deep into the murky underworld of Sydney - a world where bright, tough Claudia must play a deadly high-tech game of cat and rat with the menacing overlord of the city's cancerous network of crime and corruption.

Witty, wryly humorous and fast-paced, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender is a mystery with a twist, which brilliantly exposes the seamy action below the surface of the city's glittering facade.


'Earns Day a place up there in the first league of female crime writers.' - Time Out

'Sam Spade in a frock. it's almost more than flesh and blood can bear! Claudia Valentine is smart, sassy and sexy, even when she's up to her eyeballs in mystery and intrigue.' - Christine Hogan

'A racy, rollercoaster hunt through Sydney.' - Melbourne Times

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About the author (1998)

Marele Day grew up in Sydney and graduated from Sydney University with BA (Hons). Her work experience ranges from fruit picking to academic teaching and she has travelled extensively, taking up temporary residence in Italy, France and Ireland.

The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender (1988) was Marele Day's first thriller, followed by The Case of the Chinese Boxes (1990), The Last Tango of Delores Delgado (1992) which won the 1993 Shamus Crime Fiction Award, and The Disappearances of Madalena Grimaldi (1994). In 1996, Day was the general editor of and contributor to How to Write Crime. And in 1997, Day published her bestselling literary novel, Lambs of God, to acclaim in Australia and overseas.

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