Hobart Bookshop
All about The Big Rort …
Frank Cousins is a knock-about sort of a bloke.
He’s also the owner and sole employee of the Tasmanian Private Investigation Agency and, as his dear old mother said, ‘occasionally his own worst enemy’. That was until Frank meets Joe Shadii, aka ‘The Pharaoh’.
Frank is hired by a London based solicitor to find the twin sister of his client in Hobart. It starts out as an easy-peasy, money for jam case that turns nasty.
Then an ex-girlfriend, the lost love of his life, calls upon him to assist her brother who looks like going down for the brutal murder of his pregnant partner. And of course, Frank takes on the case.
But, as with most of Frank’s life, all is not what it first appears. Smuggled heroin, a handful of murders and coming to face with The Pharaoh was not what Frank had anticipated in trying to win back his lost love.
It’s all just as his dear old mother used to tell him, ‘sometimes, life’s just like that.’
The Big Rort is the second in the Tasmanian Private Investigation Agency series, the first, The Long Con being published in 2016.
• All about Barry Weston …
Author Barry Weston moved to Bruny Island in 1999. Previously he was a Senior Lecturer within the School of Visual Arts of La Trobe University, Bendigo Campus. After a career in painting, printmaking and teaching, he started writing plays in 2002 for the Bruny Island Arts Inc. After four plays, all directed by his wife Megan and performed by a group of talented Bruny locals at the Adventure Bay Hall and the Peacock Theatre in Hobart, he turned his hand to a life-long passion: the murder/mystery genre.
His first book in The Tasmanian Private Investigation Agency trilogy, ‘The Long Con’ was published in 2016.
His second, ‘The Big Rort’, will be officially launched at The Hobart Book Shop in Salamanca on Wednesday, April 4th at 5.30pm. A second launch, specifically for Bruny Island residents, will take place at the Gatehouse, HIBA, 53 Adventure Bay Road, on Saturday 7th April, at 2.00pm.
The central character and anti-hero of this series is Frank Cousins, a corrupt Queensland police officer who resigned from the Force and moved to Hobart weeks prior to being called before the 1987 Royal Commission into QLD Police corruption. With false identification and limited work experience, Frank set up the Tasmanian Private Investigation Agency in Molle Street and, as owner and sole employee, commenced work. Unfortunately for our hero, in the grand scheme of things, he’s a bottom-feeder; plankton in the wading-pool of private detectives. Or, as his dear old departed Mum would say, ‘Oh son, dearest. Why do you always end up being you’re your own worst enemy?’
In ‘The Big Rort’, Frank is hired by a London based solicitor to find the twin sister of his client in Hobart. He immediately calls a sign-writer to add International to his Tasmanian Private Investigation Agency shingle. As far as he’s concerned, a missing person case is an easy-peasy, money-for-jam case. But of course, that’s when it all turns nasty. At the same time, an ex-girlfriend, the lost love of his life, calls upon him to assist her brother who looks like going down for the brutal murder of his pregnant partner. And of course, Frank takes on the case. But, as with most of Frank’s life, all is not what it first appears. Smuggled heroin, a handful of murders and coming to face with ‘The Pharaoh’ was not what Frank had anticipated in trying to win back his lost love. But then again, it’s all just as his dear old Mum used to tell him, ‘sometimes son, life’s just like that.’
To get a feel for both books, you can read the first two chapters of both books and decide if the genre is to your liking, and if not, hey! you’ve saved a few bucks. To down-load or read, go to: www.barryweston.com
