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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'On a sultry summer night Murray Whelan is in the Botanical Gardens tasting Salina Fleet's apricot lips. Meanwhile the body of an artist is being fished from the ornamental moat outside the Art Gallery. The papers called it suicide. The police say it's an accident.
'Political minder, brushed-off lover and art buff on the make, Murray goes looking for the big picture. He finds there's more than meets the eye among the self-made millionaires, ruthless culture vultures, and cool operators of Melbourne's art world. He learns that when you dabble with death there's nothing abstract about a loaded gun.
'Murray Whelan, the hero of Stiff, Shane Maloney's brilliant debut novel, is back at his richly futile best. A romantic comedy and drop-dead thriller, The Brush-Off mixes high art with low blows.' (Publication summary)
Adaptations
-
form
y
The Brush-Off
( dir. Sam Neill
)
Australia
:
Ruby Entertainment
Huntaway Films
Seven Network
,
2004
Z1125639
2004
single work
film/TV
crime
humour
(taught in 3 units)
'When Agnelli is demoted to Minister of Arts and Water, he decides to earn brownie points by raising funds for the next election campaign. Murray is on the case, meeting with philanthropists and arts connoisseurs. This is where the trouble begins.'
Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 5/4/2013)
Notes
-
Featured by the BIG Book Club, an initiative supported by the Advertiser in partnership with Arts SA, The Australia Council for the Arts, Channel 7, FIVEAA and South Australian public libraries to promote a love of reading, discussion and literature, September 2004.
-
Epigraph: 'I can't think of a single Russian novel in which one of the characters goes into a picture gallery' (W. Somerset Maugham).
-
Dedication: For Wally and May, for their forbearance and their grandparents.
Contents
- Introduction, essay
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Introduction
2018
essay
— Appears in: The Brush-Off 2018; -
Untitled
2004-2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Mystery Readers Journal , Winter vol. 20 no. 4 2004-2005; (p. 44)
— Review of Stiff 1994 single work novel ; The Brush-Off 1996 single work novel ; Nice Try 1998 single work novel ; The Big Ask 2000 single work novel ; Something Fishy 2002 single work novel -
Peep into the Art World in Comic Thriller
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 September 2004; (p. 43) -
Murder with Wit, Wisdom and Art
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 20 March 2002; (p. 7)
— Review of The Brush-Off 1996 single work novel -
'Something Brand New on the Skyline' : Renovating the City in Contemporary Australian Detective Fiction
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Writing and the City : Refereed Proceedings of the 1999 Conference Held at the New South Wales Writers' Centre Sydney 2-6 July 1999 2000; (p. 101-107)
-
Untitled
2004-2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Mystery Readers Journal , Winter vol. 20 no. 4 2004-2005; (p. 44)
— Review of Stiff 1994 single work novel ; The Brush-Off 1996 single work novel ; Nice Try 1998 single work novel ; The Big Ask 2000 single work novel ; Something Fishy 2002 single work novel -
A Corpse in the Gallery's Moat
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 4 May 1996; (p. 8)
— Review of Get Rich Quick 1996 single work novel ; The Brush-Off 1996 single work novel -
Crime
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 June 1996; (p. 20)
— Review of Urn Burial 1996 single work novel ; The Brush-Off 1996 single work novel -
Crime Novels Benefit from Cut-Price Way
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Mercury , 8 April 1996; (p. 31)
— Review of The Brush-Off 1996 single work novel -
High Jinks on the Banks of the Yarra
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6 April 1996; (p. 11)
— Review of The Brush-Off 1996 single work novel -
Peep into the Art World in Comic Thriller
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 September 2004; (p. 43) - y A Student's Guide to The Brush-Off by Shane Maloney Ballarat : Wizard Books , 1998 Z1612111 1998 single work criticism
-
Looking for Laughs on the Crime Scene
1997
single work
column
biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 26 May 1997; (p. 14) -
A Criminal Sense of Place
1996
single work
column
biography
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 31 March 1996; (p. 8) -
Satirically Able in the Era of Cain
1996
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 3 April 1996; (p. 27)
Awards
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- 1980s