The second Scobie Malone, revolves around the Opera House. We meet Scobie's miserable whiny working class parents - dad works on the Opera House and helps give them access which is good - and they clash with Scobie's girlfriend, Lisa, who moved here following The High Commissioner.
Cleary had sex on the brain with this one. Interesting structure, it cuts back and forth between Scobie's investigation into Helga's murder and Helga's last few days. The identiy of the killer isn't that shocking.
The characters are types really - aspiring politician, his ambitious wife - although I liked the commercials producer, I wonder if that was inspired by Brian Chirlian. Cleary is strong on a sense of place and narrative, not so great on characters.
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