TRUE CRIME AUSTRALIA –
“Some people know it as the ‘succulent Chinese meal’ video, others as ‘democracy manifest’. Either way, millions have seen the baritone larrikin Jack Karlson getting arrested outside a Brisbane Chinese restaurant in 1991, in what the Guardian called ‘perhaps the pre-eminent Australian meme of the last 10 years’. When Karlson called crime writer Mark Dapin out of the blue, though Dapin hadn’t heard of him. But there was enough that intrigued him about this theatrical outlaw to continue the conversation. Over the following months emerged a dark and complex past. It turned out that Karlson had been in the background of many notorious incidents in late-twentieth century Australian crime, from collaborating with infamous prison-playwright Jim McNeil to befriending hitman Christopher Dale Flannery (Mr Rent-a-Kill). But most shockingly of all, Karlson’s life story led Dapin to shed new light on a number of unsolved murders, by two serial killers.”
- 312 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm. First Edition #130625