The Straight Six: Jack Read is a no-nonsense, tough as nails Private Investigator. Having spent time in the jungles of Papua New Guinea and the seamy underworld of Sydney he's seen it all - or has he? What should be a routine trip to Melbourne to undertake surveillance work leads to Read investigating an insurance claim for a dead racehorse. Read inadvertently uncovers a scandal that will rock the Australian horse racing industry to its very foundations, involving illegal doping, bribery, corruption, blackmail, sex and even murder. This time Read must rely on all of his street smarts and cunning just to survive. But who can he trust? John Pasquarelli