The Tattooed Man

Paul Harrigan is a top cop who has survived the corruption and political manoeuvrings of the NSW Police. So far ... Grace Riordan has left the Service and now works in the shadowy world of undercover intelligence, so she and Harrigan can't talk about work much. Harrigan is called to a grisly murder scene in Sydney's wealthy north: four dinner guests are seated around the dinner table -- all dead. One of them a Senator's ex-wife; one of them a missing corrupt NSW detective. And the mummified condition of the detective's body -- identified by a distinctive tattoo -- suggests he has been dead for quite some time ... While Harrigan is facing the demons of his past, Grace is drawn into the investigation through some very unofficial enquiries of her own. Enquiries which will lead to a flashpoint neither can predict. Politics, corruption, big business, espionage and illicit technology ... Alex Palmer weaves them all into a heart-stopping race for the truth. Praise for THE TATTOOED MAN: 'a worthy successor to the multi-award winning BLOOD REDEMPTION' THE AGE 'gripping' HERALD SUN 'the first major Australian crime novel to appear in 2008 ... sets a high standard that most of the books that follow this year will aspire to, but which, I suspect, few will be able to match' CANBERRA TIMES 'it's a cracker' TOWNSVILLE BULLETIN