A light but pleasant end to this classic Aussie detective series. For those of us whose key interests are politics, history, Australian life, and perpetual sarcasm, Maloney was one of the best.

Around the year 2010, Maloney indicated that he was working on a seventh and final Murray Whelan novel. Alas, the trail went cold; it has never appeared. I recently emailed Maloney and he was kind enough to reply. Although I won't share his correspondence, it does sound as if Murray has grimaced his last. Like the real Australian Labor Party of which he is such a loyal member, his glory days are far behind him. ( )

Murray Whelan is back and this time he is mired in politics. As mired as the recently discovered skeletal remains of which appear to be a union official Murray had dealings with; who disappeared, feared drowned over twenty years ago.
Things began to get complicated when Murray found himself sharing breakfast with fellow MP Charlie, Charles Joseph Talbot, MHR, only for Charlie to succumb to a sudden heart attack.
Murray and Charlie had electorates that shared many of the same constituents in the multicultural northern suburbs; thus it fell to Murray to organise the funeral arrangements. At the service Murray is inveigled into assisting with a clean and fuss free pre-selection for Charlie’s replacement. Normal Labour factional ructions and skulduggery ensue, so far so normal. What soon becomes apparent is that Charlie was on the boat that the unionist fell from during an ill-fated fishing venture. Also on the boat was Senator Barry Quinlan.
The police start investigating, questions are asked and people start to get nervous. Murray recalls the day of the heart attack and realises Charlie was reading the small article about the remains that were found in the lake. Coincidence?
Should the past stay buried along with the remains or will skeletons now out of the lake create havoc with reputations and the lives of the living. Murray battles with conflicting loyalties as he copes with the upcoming by election, relationships and teaching his teenage son to drive. ( )

In this instalment Murray Whelan has just witnessed a good friend and mentor die of a heart attack. At the time of his death Charlie Talbot was a Labor member of the House of Representatives for the Commonwealth of Australia representing Coolaroo which takes in part of Murray's Melbourne North riding. Murray, as a close friend, was in charge of the funeral arrangements. As a Labor representative in the state legislature he is expected to help the man chosen to replace Talbot in the federal parliament.

Murray's friendship with the deceased is one of the reasons the police question him about a skeleton found in a drained lake. Many years before, when both Whelan and Talbot worked for the Municipals Union, the Union head drowned in the lake while out in a boat with Talbot and a few other Union officials. Whelan was not present but he might know something that didn't make it into the official record. He doesn't actually but when it appears Talbot's reputation might be tarnished by allegations of murder he makes it his business to find out.

There are lots of typical jabs at politicians and some pretty steamy sex scenes. I've gotten pretty fond of Murray Whelan in reading these three books. And I have an appreciation for Australian politics that I didn't have before. I wonder how our Canadian politicians compare to to their Australian counterparts. Probably pretty similar. ( )

At approximately the same time that two fishing friends discover a skull in the muddy bottom of Victoria's Lake Nillahcootie, Victorian politician Murray Whelan is attending the funeral of Australian Federal Member of Parliament Charlie Talbot. Charlie has died before his time. In fact he dropped dead at the age of 64 over breakfast in Murray's company in a Mildura hotel. Charlie's death means his Federal seat is up for grabs, and this is a trophy Murray would very much like.

The discovery that the skull found in Lake Nillahcootie appears to sport a bullet hole sparks a police investigation that rakes up old memories. Twenty years ago, a union official called Merv Cutlett disappeared, presumed drowned, from a boat on Lake Nillahcootie. One of his fishing companions was Charlie Talbot, the other a university lecturer. As the police begin to contact those who accompanied Merv to Lake Nillahcootie, Murray attempts to uncover the truth about Merv's disappearance himself.

SUCKED IN is one of those rare crime fiction novels that combines a murder mystery with an Australian sense of humour. Maloney achieves this through frequent use of authentic Australian idiom without detracting from the sense of an ongoing investigation. Murray Whelan's humour is dry, laconic, and always present. His first person narrative holds nothing back, whether he is talking about fellow Australian Labor Party officials, his relationship with his son, his description of the various farewells the death of Charlie Talbot occasions, his attempts to learn Greek, or his own sexual adventures. There is no mistaking the Australian setting of this novel, and I could almost hear the gravelly voice of Murray Whelan reading it into my ear.

SUCKED IN is #6 in Shane Maloney's Murray Whelan series. I haven't read them all but that didn't affect my enjoyment of this latest. #2, THE BRUSH-OFF, was the winner of the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel in 1997, and SUCKED IN was shortlisted for the same award in 2008.

Shane Maloney's website: http://www.shanemaloney.com/ ( )

Disappointing. The style of writing was funny early in the series, but this felt tired and the plot felt a bit recycled. Not all that funny, really, although readable enough. ( )