After almost a century of foraging and fishing alone in the outback, Wilfred Lampe is finally marked out for greatness when he is picked to represent Australia's everyman at the Sydney Olympic opening ceremony. On the verge of becoming a legend, Wilfred is in his paddock when a freak accident occurs that could rob him of his chance. Flamboyant, operatic, enormously funny, The Trout Opera shows a mad world of history, war, romance, murder, bushfires, drugs and the resilience of nature. Through the story of a man who has experienced the reverberations of the world while never moving from his birthplace on the Snowy River, it asks, what is this relentless thing called Life?

Trout Opera

Humor & Entertainment

Condon, Matthew

Humor

DOUBLEDAY

The Night Dragon

Biographies & Memoirs

True Crime

Bolinda Audio

Millennium Book

Viking Australia

Journalist and novelist Matthew Condon has crafted the definitive account—a searing story of greed, crime, and corruption—of an era that changed Queensland society: an impact that reverberates across the country to this day. In 1949, a young Terence Murray Lewis graduated from the police academy, ready to start his career in law enforcement. Over the next four decades, he rose to the pinnacle of power as the knighted Commissioner of Police in Queensland before his spectacular downfall and imprisonment after the Fitzgerald Inquiry in the late 1980s. This book follows Lewis’s journey through the ranks, as he becomes part of the so-called Rat Pack with detectives Glenn Hallahan and Tony Murphy under the guiding influence of Commissioner Frank Bischof. The alleged suicide of prostitute and brothel madam Shirley Brifman in the early 1970s provides the turning point for a culture that reigned unchecked for several decades. It was part of a grand narrative teeming with murder, pay-offs, political machinations, drug heists, assisted suicides, police in-fighting, and a complicated system of corruption that ultimately collapsed under its own weight. Based on unprecedented interviews with Terry Lewis and access to his personal papers, this book is the missing piece in the puzzle of the story of Queensland’s endemic generational corruption.

Three Crooked Kings

History

Australia & Oceania

University of Queensland Press

Continuing on from the bestselling true crime story Three Crooked Kings, Jacks and Jokers opens in 1976. Terry Lewis, exiled in western Queensland, is soon to be controversially appointed Police Commissioner. As for the other two original Crooked Kings, Tony Murphy is set to ruthlessly take control of the workings of “The Joke,” while Glen Hallahan, retired from the force, begins to show a keen interest in the emerging illicit drug trade. Meanwhile, ex-cop and “Bagman” Jack Herbert collects the payments and efficiently takes police graft to a whole new level. The Joke heralds an era of hard drugs, illegal gambling, and prostitution, and leaves in its wake a string of unsolved murders and a trail of dirty money. With the highest levels of police and government turning a blind eye, the careers of honest police officers and the lives of innocent civilians are threatened and often lost as corruption escalates out of control. Revealing more incredible facts and previously untold stories, award-winning journalist and novelist Matthew Condon once again exposes the shocking behavior outside the law by the law. Jacks and Jokers is the gripping second installment of the rise and spectacular fall of one man, an entire state, and generations of corruption.

Jacks and Jokers

Professionals & Academics

Continuing on from the bestselling true crime stories Three Crooked Kings and Jacks and Jokers, All Fall Down follows Terry Lewis as he becomes police commissioner and the era of corruption at the highest levels of the police and government goes on. As the Queensland police become more connected with their corrupt colleagues in Sydney, the era of heavy drugs and crime also begins. Tony Murphy and Glen Hallahan, two of the original “crooked kings,” become more enmeshed with “The Joke” which is run by bagman Jack Herbert. All Fall Down introduces new characters, more extraordinary behavior outside the law by the law, and along the way it charts the meteoric rise of police commissioner Terry Lewis. But with the arrival of the Fitzgerald Inquiry in the late 1980s, many will fall—and it’s not always the people who should. Once again award-winning journalist and novelist Matthew Condon has drawn from unprecedented access to Terry Lewis, as well as hundreds of interviews with key players and conspirators to craft the definitive account of the rise—and spectacular fall—of one man, an entire state, and over a generation of corruption.

All Fall Down

"I recall meeting Lewis on a number of occasions in company with Tony Murphy. I recall conversation getting around to payments of money with Murphy and Lewis. Lewis thanked me on several occasions and said ‘Little fish are sweet." —Jack ‘The Bagman’ Herbert in evidence to the Fitzgerald Inquiry 1988.  Little Fish Are Sweet is Matthew Condon’s extraordinary personal account of writing the Three Crooked Kings trilogy. When Condon first interviewed disgraced former police commissioner Terry Lewis, he had no idea that it would be the start of a turbulent six-year journey. As hundreds of people came forward to share their powerful and sometimes shocking stories, decades of crime and corruption were revealed in a new light.   Risking threats and intimidation, Condon tirelessly pursued his investigations into a web of cold murder cases and past conspiracies. What he discovered is much more sinister than anyone could have imagined. 

Little Fish Are Sweet

How a famous cold case, a deadly fire and a quest for justice finally brought down one of Australia's worst killers. 'He takes you in the middle of the night, like an angel, and you're gone for good.' - Witness at Vincent O'Dempsey's committal hearing for murder, 2015. In 2017, Vincent O'Dempsey was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murders of Barbara McCulkin and her two young daughters. It took over 40 years to bring him to justice. Feared for decades by criminals and police alike, O'Dempsey associated with convicted underworld figures and has been linked to a string of haunting cold cases, including the deadly Whiskey au Go Go nightclub firebombing that killed 15 innocent people. Award-winning investigative journalist Matthew Condon has interviewed dozens of ex-cons, police and witnesses to put together a compelling picture of the calculating killer who spent his life evading the law before he was finally brought to justice.

'It was the genius of the system ... from day to day you didn't know who was on the take or not. You didn't know who you could trust.' Three Crooked Kings is the shocking true story of Queensland and how a society was shaped by almost half a century of corruption. At its core is Terry Lewis, deposed and jailed former police commissioner. From his entry into the force in 1949, Lewis rose through the ranks, becoming part of the so-called Rat Pack with detectives Glen Hallahan and Tony Murphy under the guiding in&#64258;uence of Commissioner Frank Bischof. The next four decades make for a searing tale of cops and killings, bagmen and blackmail, and sin and sleaze that exposes a police underworld that operated from Queensland to New South Wales. This gripping book examines the &#64257;nal pieces of the puzzle, unearths new evidence on cold cases, and explores the pivotal role that whistleblower Shirley Brifman, prostitute and brothel owner, played until her sudden death. Based on extensive and unprecedented access to Terry Lewis and his personal papers, as well as hundreds of interviews with key players and conspirators, Three Crooked Kings is the &#64257;rst of three explosive books. Awarded journalist and novelist Matthew Condon has crafted the de&#64257;nitive account of an era that changed a state and is still reverberating to this day.

Brisbane

Travel

Australia & South Pacific

ReadHowYouWant

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Condon, Matthew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Condon, Matthew

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Condon, Matthew. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Trout Opera

The Night Dragon

Millennium Book

Three Crooked Kings

Jacks and Jokers

All Fall Down

Little Fish Are Sweet

The Night Dragon

Three Crooked Kings

Brisbane