I’ve already written four Nick Harding case files, but for those who haven’t read them yet, an introduction is in order in advance of the fifth, coming in July (subscribe, top right of this page, to get updates).
I wanted to veer away from the whiskey-soaked, ex-beat cop trope for my next PI. And I happened to be working (in the job that put the good food on the table) in risk management and governance when I was in the ‘what am I going to write about now’ phase.
Nick Harding is a former Australian Federal Police officer based in Sydney who led investigations into money laundering and other financial crimes. Until the regularity of it all bored his socks off. There are only so many ways to clean money. Once you knew what they were, it came down to uncovering the electronic paper trail. Or, more often than not, trails.
Boring.
AUSTRAC had the really fun work, and he couldn’t get a nose in with them.
So Nick split off on his own and set up a small (it couldn’t be any smaller) firm to help companies guard against internal financial crime. It seemed like a safe, not at all dangerous, way to make a buck.
I mean, if you don’t include the beatings, abductions, threats to friends and family and trashed cars and apartments.
Funnily enough, he’s found the danger more appealing. He now has tacit proof that his fights bring results. He sees the baddies getting cuffed. He even has, on occasion, meted out the punishment himself. A darker side of himself he didn’t know he had.
E-books can be found on all good and evil purveyors of digital stuff.
Paperbacks (including Large Print) are on
Barnes&Noble: Batteries Not Included | Broken | Dead Tomorrow | Under the Shadows and
bookshop.org: Batteries Not Included | Broken | Dead Tomorrow | Under the Shadows
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