‘Coorparoo Blues & The Irish Fandango’ by G S Manson

 Published by Dark Passage Books,
11 October 2012.
ISBN: 978-1-891241-32-1

The setting is Brisbane, Australia in 1943 and the hero is PI Jack Munro, World War One veteran and ex-cop who is dedicated to exposing the truth whether the authorities want this or not. This is a hardboiled Sam Spade character walking the mean streets! Brisbane at that time was a major staging post for the war in the Pacific so it had moved from being a sleepy provincial town to being a melting pot for thousands of US troops and the flotsam and jetsam they attracted. Jack Munro produces the plain spoken style of classic pulp fiction.

In deference to English and American reader the author has included a glossary of Australian terms which can be very helpful but also contains some words you do know and some words that you don’t! There are 2 stories here - each at novella length - and different in emphasis. The first really evokes the world of the War in Australia and the second harks back to earlier conflicts casting a long shadow. The author sweeps you along in Jack’s wake and gets you fully involved in the adventures and produces two good mysteries for Jack to solve. All the traditional viewpoints of the denizens of the murky world of the PI can be seen.

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Reviewer: Jennifer Palmer

This is the debut book for G.S. Manson.

G S Manson Ex- meatpacker, actor, bouncer, set-builder, rock journalist, demolition man, passport officer, cattle farmer, porno salesman, roller disco mechanic and debt collector, Greg now divides his time between laying down hypnotic funk grooves as half of indigenous trance act GURIGURU and trying to run an organic pecan farm in Northern NSW. He also has no trouble walking the mean streets of his own mind as a crime writer with a unique and authentic Australian voice.

Jennifer Palmer

Throughout my reading life crime fiction has been a constant interest; I really enjoyed my 15 years as an expatriate in the Far East, the Netherlands & the USA but occasionally the solace of closing my door to the outside world and sitting reading was highly therapeutic.

I now lecture to adults on historical topics including Famous Historical Mysteries.