About the series

"I'm hoping The Tower will be the first in a series of crime novels about Sydney. For me the city is a splendid place in which to set such a series, because of the important role crime and corruption have played since white settlement began in 1788.

"Sydney is not uniquely criminal, but its crime does have certain distinguishing characteristics. The one most often pointed out by visitors and foreign observers is the brazen nature of our attitude towards the crime and corruption in our midst. "It's almost as though you feel affectionate about it," an American journalist once remarked to me.

"Some think this is because the city was founded by a largely convict population. Others say it's because Sydney is one of the most secular cities in the world, and doesn't have the same degree of public morality as other places.

"Another characteristic is the disorganised nature of crime and corruption here. Unlike America, with its history of mafia families, Australian criminal endeavours have always been more fluid, with alliances continually evolving and collapsing as circumstances change and new tides of immigrants weep through the city.

"The phrase "City of Sharks" expresses how I've come to think of the place in terms of evil. The sunlit surface is bright and glittering, but predators swim just beneath it, ready to devour anyone who falls beneath that surface, even ready to leap out and snatch something on the surface they like the look of. This is a beautiful place but it can be a hard one. It is the reality of Sydney as I've seen it in the crime stories I've done for the Sydney Morning Herald." -- Michael Duffy