Peter Corris: The Godfather Of Australian Crime Fiction Is A True Loss To The Genre

It is with a heavy heart that I offer this tribute to the man often known as the ‘The Godfather of Australian Crime Fiction’, Peter Corris, who died on 30^th August.

His career in crime fiction spanned nearly 40 years, with his first novel published in 1980. He retired from writing last year due to the onset of blindness, which was developing as a result of type-1 diabetes, a condition he had suffered from for many years.

Born and educated in the Australian state of Victoria, Corris went on to attend a number of Universities, including the University of Melbourne, as well as Monash University, before he gained his PHD in History at the Australian National University. Having enjoyed careers in journalism and academia, Corris set about writing crime fiction, and quickly gained acclaim for his Cliff Hardy novels, which centered on hardboiled detective and his work as he uncovered a range of gritty and often gruesome crimes. Comparable to many of the classic hardboiled detectives, Hardy is a great example of the genre, and his books are a treat for any crime fiction fan.

Alongside his Hardy novels, Corris also wrote novels featuring characters Ray Crawly, Richard Browning and Luke Dunlop. His vast body of work remains central to the Australian crime fiction space, and his work will live on as a memory of this skilled author who could expertly craft a thrilling novel that always hooked readers from the first page to the final full stop.

Corris’s death aged 76 came on the eve of him being named as the inaugural winner of the Sydney Crime Writers Festival Danger Lifetime Achievement Award, which was recognition for his vast back catalogue including more than 100 novels. This great writer will be sadly missed, and his contribution to the Australian crime fiction genre will never be forgotten.