In June 1975, dressed to impress in her finest ball gown, dripping with expensive jewellery and driving a limited edition luxury car, socialite and brothel madam Shirley Finn was invited to the grounds of the Royal Perth Golf Club for a special occasion - her own modern day public execution.
The killers knew they wouldn't be caught. Their power reigned supreme in one of the most remote and prosperous cities on earth, during an era of police protection and 'containment' of organised crime.
Rising out of an abusive welfare system to become a police-protected madam, Shirley's fate took an astonishing turn towards the top end of town.
As one of Perth's best-known socialites, she hosted fabulous parties. But her downfall was fast and furious, beginning with money laundering and fears she might expose high-level corruption in 'The Wild West' of the seventies.
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An important historical document that reveals the secrets and lies of powerful interests, criminal and political.
- David Whish-Wilson
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Born in Sydney, Juliet Wills has lived and worked throughout Australia. She has been awarded for her Excellence in TV Journalism, written for major newspapers, and lectured in broadcast journalism at two universities.
Whish-Wilson, David: - "David Whish-Wilson was born in Newcastle, NSW but raised in Singapore, Victoria and WA. He left Australia in 1984 to live in Europe, Africa and Asia, where he worked as a barman, actor, streetseller, labourer, exterminator, factory worker, gardener, clerk, travel agent, teacher and drug trial guinea pig. During this time he began to publish short stories in Australia (anthologised in Pascoe Publishing's Best Fifty Stories Collection) and had a longer piece short-listed for the Vogel/Australian Literary Award. His first novel The Summons was published in 2006 (Vintage - Random House.) His second novel Line of Sight was published by Penguin in September 2010, and was short-listed for a 2011 Ned Kelly Award (see reviews.) The sequel to Line of Sight - Zero at the Bone was released with Penguin Australia in August 2013. David's most recent publication is the Perth book for the New South Publishing city series, which was short-listed for the 2014 WA Premier's Book Awards (see reviews) David has taught in the prison system in both WA and Fiji, where he started the country's first prisoner writing program, which now operates in all Fijian prisons. He currently lives in Fremantle, Western Australia, where he teaches creative writing at Curtin University."
Wills, Juliet: - Juliet Wills has choppered into crocodile breeding grounds, been chased by rioting armed gangs, and jumped from a civilian plane with the 13th load at 13,000 feet on Friday the 13th. She has also pursued the story of brothel madam Shirley Finn's state-sanctioned murder with fearless obstinacy. Born in Sydney, Juliet has lived and worked throughout Australia. She has been awarded for her Excellence in Television Journalism, written for major newspapers, and lectured in broadcast journalism at two universities. The mother of three lives in Perth and now works in real estate.
