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Translations
of the Murray Whelan books have been published
in Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Finland and
the U.S. Two of the books, STIFF
and THE BRUSH OFF,
have been produced as movies starring David
Wenham in the title role. They were broadcast
on the Seven Network in 2004 (STIFF
was Seven's highest rating Sunday evening movie
for the year). Adapted for the screen by John
Clarke and directed by Clarke and Sam Neill,
they are now available on DVD.
As
Shane says, "it is characteristic of the
best crime fiction that it has a strong sense
of place - the Los Angeles of Raymond Chandler,
the San Francisco of Dahiell Hammett and so on".
However, Shane is not writing about mean streets
and seedy characters. His crimes take place in
the city's art galleries, Fitzroy pubs and parliamentary
offices. He also ventures into the inner suburbs
of Melbourne peopled by Greeks, Poles and Kooris.
His
novels have been well received by other crime-writers
and Kerry Greenwood said of Shane: "He's
got an ingenious, very Australian wit which is
very verbal and a very strong sense of the ridiculous".
Crime fiction critic Stuart Coupe claimed "He's
a little bit different from most Australian crime
fiction writers in that he is humorous. Most of
them are a bit serious. He's nailed down the vernacular
of Melbourne in a particular era."
As
well as his crime fiction, Maloney has published
many articles and columns in Arena Magazine,
The Melbourne Weekly, The Canberra
Times, Eureka Street and The Age.
A
long time resident of Brunswick, Shane has held
many different posts before ruining his future
employment prospects by becoming a full-time writer.
As well as discussing his written work, Shane
can also describe his past lives! He was Director
of the Melbourne Comedy Festival for its first
three years, Cultural Director of Melbourne's
Olympic bid, a qualified swimming pool lifeguard,
a rock concert promoter for 3RRR, a senior arts
bureaucrat and a contestant on Sale of the
Century. A source from The Age suggested
that his vast web of contacts from these previous
jobs provides the personalities and scenarios
for his novels.
Shane
is an entertaining public speaker who has been
a featured guest at all major writers festivals
in Australia as well as such pretigious international
festivals as Vancouver, Hay-on-Wye
and Bouchercon USA. One of his books
was a text for the Victorian Certificate of Education
and he was recently appointed an Honorary Visiting
Fellow at La Trobe University - an extraordinarily
rare distinction for a writer of crime fiction.
Further
details of his books, plus images from the movies
and assorted biographical details can be found
at www.shanemaloney.com
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