Torn Apart

Despite Australian Kelly's receipt of the 2009 Ned Kelly Crime Fiction Award for Deep Water, the next-to-latest entry in the long-running Cliff Hardy crime novel series, this current effort is unimpressive and will have readers wondering what the fuss is all about. Hardy is at a turning point in his life, having lost his partner and his license to practice as a PI, on top of surviving a heart attack and being shot. With money no longer an issue, Hardy's at loose ends when he meets Patrick Malloy, a second cousin who also happens to be a dead ringer for Hardy himself. Malloy persuades the former investigator to join him on a trip to Ireland to visit relatives who are Travelers, a nomadic people with their own culture. Upon their return to Australia, Malloy is shotgunned to death in Hardy's apartment, leaving Hardy and the police unsure which cousin was the intended target. The subsequent search for the killer, complete with the victim's ex-wife who comes on to the hero, offers nothing crime readers haven't seen countless times before, and the stale plot isn't redeemed by either compelling prose or gripping characters. (Sept.)