Murray Whelan – political fixer, hopeless romantic, inadvertant detective and accidental MP – is the unreliable narrator of six novels. Sequentially, they follow his journey through the ranks of a well-known but entirely fictional Australian political party. The action takes place mainly in Melbourne, a city on the way to nowhere. Each story is a stand-alone episode in Murray’s stumble upwards through the political process from lowly electorate officer to member of the federal parliament.

Intended as political satire and badged as crime, they defy easy categorisation and have been callled everything from apparachik-lit to retro-thrillers. They abound with cheap laughs and terrible puns.

The first book,Stiff, is set in 1984. The most recent,Sucked In , takes place in the vicinity of 1998.

Some of the books have been published in translation in exotic locales like the US, Britain, France Switzerland, Japan and Finland. (“Paljon Pyydetty” is a rather catchy title, don’t you think?)

For the details of each book, simply click the link and a new window will open.

Some thoughts about the perils and pleasures of being translated can be found on the Articles page.

As well as the Murray Whelan novels, the Maloney opus includes

Australian_Encounters, a compilation of historical sketches, first published in The Monthly magazine and illustrated by Chris Grosz (2010)

The Happy Phrase, a compendium of useful expressions designed to the quality of English spoken improve it out of sight for all and sundry wherever she may find himself. Recommended to you by us is it. Co-authored with Guy Rundle. (2004)

Buying the books online

Click here for signed and personalised copies of

• first editions of Sucked In,
• telemovie tie-in editions of Stiff and The Brush Off
• various other Murray Whelan titles

NB – unsigned copies are also available