Category archive

Biography

A Collusion of Powers by Philip Arantz

Memoir by detective who in 1971 released true crime statistics to the Sydney Morning Herald. For years the NSW Police had been lying about the real level of crime and the clear-up rate. Following the leak, Arantz was sent (briefly) to a psychiatric institution by outraged Police Commissioner Norman Allan,… Keep Reading

Huckstepp: a dangerous life by John Dale

The following is taken from the publisher’s website. It will be updated with original text when time permits, but we thought it important to have a reference to this seminal book on the site. Huckstepp investigates the murder of the charismatic young woman who has fascinated Australians since she first… Keep Reading

Killing Juanita by Peter Rees

Important book about the disappearance of Juanita Nielsen on 4 July 1975. Very good on her own background and also that of property developer Frank Theeman, whose endeavours she was opposing. Nielsen’s disappearance was a seminal event in Sydney’s criminal history, because it shocked the city and drew attention to… Keep Reading

Gambling for Love by John Killick

Killick is a career criminal and jailbird, best known for escaping from Silverwater prison in 1999 in a helicopter hijacked at gunpoint by his girlfriend Lucy Dudko. This book covers his life only to 1973 and is a boring record of a typical criminal’s life, with a sometimes violent childhood… Keep Reading

The Dodger by Duncan McNab

Informed and at times unexpectedly sympathetic biography of Roger Rogerson by former detective Duncan McNab. Like his mentor Ray Kelly and many other detectives before him, Rogerson was an effective and brave officer who became too close to the criminals he was supposed to be controlling, and in the opinion of many observers… Keep Reading

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