Shane Maloney

Shane Maloney
Born	1953 Hamilton, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Writer

Shane Maloney (born 1953) born in Hamilton, Victoria is a Melbourne author best known as the creator of the Murray Whelan series of crime novels.

Maloney was educated at Christian Brothers' College, St Kilda. He started writing after studying politics and Asian history at the Australian National University. He has worked in a wide range of situations, having held the positions of: Director of the Melbourne Comedy Festival (1987–1989), Cultural Director of Melbourne's Olympic bid and swimming pool lifeguard.

Maloney lives in Melbourne.

The six titles in the Murray Whelan crime thriller series (Stiff,The Brush-Off, Nice Try, The Big Ask, Something Fishy and most recently Sucked In) all feature the eponymous Murray Whelan, initially as a Labor Party staffer who provides support to a Victorian State Government minister but later as a member of the Victorian State parliament. The novels are ordered chronologically and follow Whelan's progression through the Labor Party's ranks during the late 1980s and early 1990s at a time when the Labor Party was in power at both a federal and state level in Victoria.

Each novel follows the protagonist, Murray Whelan, as he attempts to uncover the truth behind murders, fraudulent schemes and shady dealings in and around the suburbs of Melbourne. Although his motives are usually genuine - protecting his own tenuous employment and sparing his minister from political death - Whelan inevitably ends up in over his head after implicating himself and faces enmity from the criminals, the police, party colleagues and his estranged wife who wants custody of their son.

The series of novels trace Whelan's career and in each novel he is older, wiser and has risen to a more senior position. Maloney described the progress as, "episodic biography of Murray Whelan as he falls up the political ladder".

...
Wikipedia