Review - Mr Rainbow Series, C.S. Boag

A trip to Paris in the company of a beautiful dame would be many men's idea of heaven. But a flight to France with the gorgeous Helen Damnation rapidly spirals into a journey to hell. Rainbow's daughter's missing and he doesn't know who's taken her - or why. Nor does he know where she might have gone, until he enlists the help of a childhood mate - now a spy - Ace Mollema. But can he trust the spook? Or the beautiful dame, for that matter? Above all, can he save the kid? Sparks fly when Rainbow assumes a temporary identity to get a passport - and those sparks quickly turn to fire. Can Rainbow rescue his daughter? And if he does, can he work out the significance of the Bullets at the Ballet ... The Case of the Bullets at the Ballet, the fourth novel in the sensational Mister Rainbow series, is a modern story with a wink and a nod to the golden age of pulp fiction.

Rainbow's got the blues. His girlfriend's dumped him; his assassin mate Rory's found God; his Aunt Rube's as sick as a bad joke; and his ex-wife's thrown up a barricade - all right, a cordon bleu - around his daughter Imogene.

So when a snake's let loose in a laboratory, his ballet teacher's under siege and a nasty little joker by the name of Cock Robin cops it, Rainbow climbs into the ring because it's his job - but also because he needs the distraction.

In the red corner he finds an unpredictable dame called Tsunami; a crooked cop; a tough -as-granite developer; a politician; a couple of thugs; a paparazzo; and too many bodies.

While in the blue corner- yeah, that's Rainbow's-there's just two dames in distress and a bald journo. The clue is blue. But is that the moody blues, blue blood, a bad blue, a stoush - or just plain old fashioned blue murder.

When Mister Rainbow finds a headless honcho in a King’s Cross alleyway, the tattoo around the corpse’s neck leaves little doubt as to its identity. Thomas L. Tycho was everybody’s enemy – a trickster, a dirty dealer, and a wide boy who made the mistake of wide boys the world over – not making himself a great deal narrower when the gun went off.

The killer’s identity, however, proves more elusive – as everybody hated Tommy, anybody could have popped him. His wife, his girlfriend, and half of Sydney’s underworld all had motive, but Mister Rainbow smells something fishy, and it’s got nothing to do with what’s floating in the harbour …

She’s a brain surgeon, she’s beautiful and she desperately wants Mister Rainbow to shed some light on her husband’s past. But when he does, she wishes he hadn’t. Because what Rainbow discovers is a handless hood – and an awful lot of murders.

Rainbow’s a retro private eye who keeps himself to himself: lives (illegally) on a boat in Sydney Harbour, has no identity and frequents speakeasies. He’s also got a Nemesis called Pandora ...

The Mister Rainbow series of novels is set in Australia; the first – The Case of The Hood with No Hands – around Sydney and in a NSW country town that’s uncannily like one some readers might recognise.

When a few too many dead bodies turn up on Sydney’s mean streets, Mister Rainbow’s too busy to investigate – until an old flame goes up in smoke. 

Then it’s no holds barred as the famous PI with the dancing feet finds himself pitted against the city’s crooked gamblers – and the dame determined to whip them into line … 

The Case of the Horses for Corpses, the third novel in the sensational Mister Rainbow series, is a modern story with a wink and a nod to the golden age of pulp fiction. With its memorable characters, witty dialogue and fast-paced plot, it signals the arrival of an arresting new Australian talent.