Wyatt

1


Wyatt was waiting to rob a man of $75,000.

It was a Friday afternoon in spring, and he was parked near
a split-level house in Mount Eliza, forty-five minutes around the
bay from the city. The house belonged to a harbourmaster for the
Port of Melbourne and offered water views but was an architectural
nightmare not that Wyatt cared, he d always known that wealth
and crassness went together. He was only interested in the
money.

So far, he was down $500, the brokerage fee he d paid Eddie
Oberin for the harbourmaster tip. The way Eddie explained it,
the waterside unions were powerful, but so was this harbourmaster.
It was in everyone s best interests for ships to moor, unload, load
and depart as swiftly as possible, but some delays were
unavoidable a Filipino sailor breaking his neck in a fall, for
example; a customs raid, or a strike. And some delays were of the
harbourmaster s own making: three or four times a year he would
quarantine a ship.

The guy s salary was pretty good, but he had expenses
gambling debts, child support and the cost of running two
dwellings. An apartment near the docks, where he lived five days
a week, and this split-level monstrosity in Mount Eliza. He d paid
a lot for his view of the bay, the repayments were killing him, and
so from time to time he quarantined ships. Another term for it
was extortion: give me seventy-five grand, Mr Ship Owner, and
I ll give your ship a clean bill of health.

Time passed, Wyatt waited, and he thought about Eddie
Oberin. Eddie had been a useful gunman and wheelman a
couple of credit union robberies, a payroll hit but now he was
mostly a fence and the kind of man who hears whispers and then
sells or trades the things he hears. Five hundred bucks for a whisper
in the right ear, thought Wyatt.

Just then a Lexus nosed out of the harbourmaster s steep
driveway, a smooth, silvery car quite unlike the man himself, who
was pale, sweaty and beer-fed, with small features

Garry Disher is one of Australia's best-known novelists. He's published over 40 books in a range of genres, including crime, children's books, and Australian history. His Hal Challis crime series is also published in the US by Soho Crime. He lives on the Mornington Peninsula, southeast of Melbourne.

Praise for Wyatt

One of Booklist's "101 Best Crime Novels of the Last Decade"

Like an Australian Bob le Flambeur, Disher s titular robber is smooth, calm and planning a big heist.
Entertainment Weekly

The first U.S. appearance of this series, and it's just brilliant.
Seattle Times

"Once again Disher takes us back to the golden age of thrillers, a time when they were fast, taut and dependably suspenseful."
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

A jewel heist that appears straightforward proves anything but in Australian author Disher's outstanding seventh thriller featuring Melbourne bank robber Wyatt Wareen, last seen in 1997's The Fallout.... The spare, economical prose perfectly suits this tale of mad love and crimes gone wrong ... and should boost the reputation of Disher, winner of Australia's Ned Kelly Award, in the U.S.
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Wyatt Wareen has been away for awhile, but he s back in Melbourne and looking for a score.... Disher also writes the excellent Inspector Hal Challis procedurals (Chain of Evidence, 2007), but a new Wyatt novel we ve described the series as criminal procedurals (Kick Back, 1993) is cause for celebration. Though the ensemble cast is sharply drawn, the heart of the story is Wyatt, a cool-headed, taciturn, unsentimental thief with a code ... Wyatt may be a man out of time, but crime fiction like this is timeless.
Booklist, Starred Review

Disher s depiction of Melbourne s underworld is a revelation undeniably lurid and harsh yet humming with a vibrancy that lends a soulful note to the story. In his first Wyatt thriller in 13 years, Disher, author of the Hal Challis police procedurals (The Dragon Man; Blood Moon) excels at capturing the complexity and tension of life on the run, and his characters exude a visceral energy as they compete to survive. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy atmospheric, character-driven crime