''Bleak Spring'' is a 1993 novel from Australian author

Jon Cleary Jon Stephen Cleary (22 November 191719 July 2010) was an Australian writer and novelist. He wrote numerous books, including '' The Sundowners'' (1951), a portrait of a rural family in the 1920s as they move from one job to the next, and '' The ...

. It was the tenth book featuring Sydney detective Scobie Malone.

Story outline

The story centers on the murder of a solicitor who Scobie knew, and whose son happens to be dating Scobie's daughter, Claire. It turns out the lawyer had links to a bookmaker, an offshore bank and a dangerous Russian. Like many Cleary novels it featured sport, in this case

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. One reviewer stated that "Cleary writes a solidly entertaining novel, concentrating on the details of routine police investigation and the matey, macho, laconic world of the police team. While the finale may inspire accusations of prejudice, it is a suitably suspenseful climax to a workmanlike slab of adventure fiction."'Top Shelf', ''Sunday Age'', 31 October 1993, p9

References

{{Jon Cleary 1993 Australian novels Novels set in Sydney HarperCollins books William Morrow and Company books Novels by Jon Cleary