Peter Corris


Peter Robert Corris was an Australian academic, historian, journalist and a novelist of historical and crime fiction. As crime fiction writer, he was described as "the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-writing", particularly for his Cliff Hardy novels.

Biography

Corris' secondary school education was at Melbourne High School. He was a Bachelor level student at the University of Melbourne, then gained a Master of Arts in history at Monash University. He studied at the Australian National University where he was awarded a PhD in history on the topic of the South Seas Islander slave trade. He continued these studies as a university lecturer, but later became a journalist, being a literary editor of the National Times. He recalled "I got sick of the literary editor shit. I got fucking sick of new books, beautiful new hardbacks flowing in every week in their dust covers, filling the cupboard up. For the first year or so I thought, “This is heaven.”... It was a dream job for 18 months but it got to the stage where I hated the look of a new book."
The first Cliff Hardy book was The Dying Trade. Corris later recalled "I’d already finished the second one because I enjoyed doing the first one so much, and had started a third one, and well, the ball just got rolling, even though it took about 5 years for the first one to get published."
He was married to writer Jean Bedford.
Peter Corris wrote a book that provided deep insights into his life living with type-1 diabetes. Some of his novels have diabetic subplots. In January 2017, Corris announced that he would no longer be writing novels owing to 'creeping blindness' because of his diabetes.

Awards and achievements

  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Lifetime Achievement, 1999: winner
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2004: nominated for Master's Mates
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2006: shortlisted for Saving Billie
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2007: shortlisted for The Undertow
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2008: nominated for Appeal Denied
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2008: nominated for Open File
  • Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best Fiction, 2009: winner for ''Deep Water''

    Partial list of books

Cliff Hardy novels

  • The Dying Trade ;
  • White Meat ;
  • The Marvellous Boy ;
  • The Empty Beach ;
  • Heroin Annie and Other Cliff Hardy Stories ;
  • Make Me Rich ;
  • The Big Drop and Other Cliff Hardy Stories ;
  • The Greenwich Apartments ;
  • Deal Me Out ;
  • The January Zone ;
  • Man in the Shadows: A Short Novel and Six Stories ;
  • O'Fear ;
  • Wet Graves ;
  • Aftershock ;
  • Beware of the Dog ;
  • Burn and Other Stories ;
  • Matrimonial Causes ;
  • Casino ;
  • The Washington Club ;
  • Forget Me If You Can: Cliff Hardy Stories ;
  • The Reward ;
  • The Black Prince ;
  • The Other Side of Sorrow ;
  • Lugarno ;
  • Salt and Blood ;
  • Master's Mates ;
  • The Coast Road ;
  • Taking Care of Business: Cliff Hardy Cases ;
  • Saving Billie ;
  • The Undertow ;
  • Appeal Denied ;
  • The Big Score: Cliff Hardy Cases ;
  • Open File ;
  • Deep Water ;
  • Torn Apart ;
  • Follow the Money ;
  • Comeback ;
  • The Dunbar Case ;
  • Silent Kill ;
  • Gun Control ;
  • That Empty Feeling ;
  • Win, Lose or Draw ;

    Ray Crawley novels

  • Pokerface ;
  • The Baltic Business ;
  • The Kimberly Killing ;
  • The Cargo Club ;
  • The Azanian Action ;
  • The Japanese Job ;
  • The Time Trap ;
  • The Vietnam Volunteer ;

    Richard Browning novels

  • Box Office Browning ;
  • Beverly Hills Browning ;
  • Browning Takes Off ;
  • Browning in Buckskin ;
  • Browning P.I. ;
  • Browning Battles On ;
  • Browning Sahib ;
  • Browning Without a Cause ;

    Luke Dunlop novels

  • Set Up ;
  • Cross Off ;
  • Get Even ;

    Other works

  • Passage, Port and Plantation: A History of Solomon Islands Labour Migration, 1870-1914 ;
  • Lords of the Ring ;
  • Lightning Meets the West Wind: The Malaita Massacre, by Roger M. Keesing & Peter Corris ;
  • The National Times Australian Book of Quizzes, by Jean Bedford & Peter Corris ;
  • The Winning Side ;
  • The Australian Family Quiz Book ;
  • The Gulliver Fortune ;
  • Naismith's Dominion ;
  • Fred Hollows: An Autobiography, by Fred Hollows with Peter Corris ;
  • The Brothers Craft ;
  • Fighting for Fraser Island: A Man and an Island, by John Sinclair with Peter Corris ;
  • Wimmera Gold ;
  • A Round of Golf: 18 Holes with Peter Corris ;
  • Petro-Pirates: The Hijacking of the Petro Ranger, by Ken Blyth with Peter Corris ;
  • Sweet & Sour: A Diabetic Life ;
  • The Journal of Fletcher Christian: Together with the History of Henry Corkill ;
  • Blood Brothers ;
  • The Colonial Queen ;
  • Mad Dog: William Cyril Moxley and the Moorebank Killings ;
  • Standing in the Shadow: Three Novellas ;
  • Damned If I Do, by Philip Nitschke with Peter Corris ;

    Edited

  • The Picador Book of Golf, edited by Peter Corris & Jamie Grant ;
  • Ringside: A Knockout Collection of Fights & Fighters: The Winners, the Losers, the Legends, edited by Peter Corris & Barry Parish ;
  • Menace in the Mulga ;
  • Heart Matters: Personal Stories About That Heart-Stopping Moment, edited by Peter Corris & Michael Wilding ;
  • Best on Ground: Great Writers on the Greatest Game, edited by Peter Corris & John Dale ;