Deadly Kerfuffle

‘They’re different, that’s for sure. And I wouldn’t put anything past ’em.’

It’s 2006, and terror scaremongering in the media has rattled the residents of sleepy, suburban Dunlop Crescent. When a Maori family moves into number 14, the local cranks assume they are Middle Eastern terrorists hell-bent on destroying the Australian way of life. Rumour has it that they plan to turn their house to face Mecca.

This sets off an extraordinary chain of events that embroils the entire neighbourhood as well as cynical media figures, bumbling anti-terrorist police, and a gang of white supremacists with a radical plan to wake up the country and ‘preserve Australian values’. At the centre of it all is Gordon, a retired widower, who just wants a bit of peace and quiet.

Deadly Kerfuffle is a smart, riveting and incredibly funny novel inspired by actual letters to the editor in a local newspaper. Through biting satire and a cast of unforgettable characters, it’s an insight into the kind of paranoia that could only ever blossom in the quietest and safest of places.

About the Author

New Zealand-born Tony Martin was a writer and performer on cult TV comedies The D-Generation and The Late Show, one half of radio’s Martin/Molloy, and the creator of Get This. He wrote and directed the movie Bad Eggs, and appeared in The Castle, Crackerjack, Kath & Kim and Thank God You’re Here. He hosted ABC TV’s A Quiet Word, directed episodes of The Librarians, Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey and Upper Middle Bogan, and in the UK, was a producer on Ross Noble’s Freewheeling.

His stand-up comedy has been nominated for the Barry Award, and he has shared the ARIA Award for Best Comedy Album a record four times. He currently appears on the Nova 100 breakfast show, tours with Damian Cowell’s Disco Machine, and is nine years into an attempt to walk every street of his home town, Melbourne.

Deadly Kerfuffle is his fourth book and first novel.