Endpeace

ENDPEACE is a 1996 novel from award-winning Australian author Jon Cleary. It is the thirteenth book to feature Sydney detective, Scobie Malone. When Scobie attends a dinner party held by a publishing tycoon, he is called upon to find a killer when the tycoon is shot dead during the night. When wealthy newspaper magnate Sir Harry Huxwood is shot dead in his own bed, it is Inspector Scobie Malone's job to pick up the pieces and name the killer.
This means infiltrating the opulent Huxwood residence, Malmaison House, where Lady Phillipa presides over the sprawling Huxwood family and staff - and a veritable vipers' nest. As Malone investigates he uncovers the stuff of headlines: a forgotten love affair; Fleet Street incomers versus an ex-crim on the make; a family dogfight over potential handouts of fifty million dollars apiece; a silence that has lasted twenty five years.
And, making it smell sweeter on the surface, a rose garden to rival Empress Josephine's. Amidst unwanted interference from his superiors and all the attention attracted by such a high profile case, the pressure is on Malone to come up with the true story, once and for all.