Shane Maloney is one of Australia's most popular novelists. His award-winning and much loved Murray Whelan series — Stiff, The Brush-Off, Nice Try, The Big Ask, Something Fishy and Sucked In — is characterised by a strong sense of humour and an acute sense of Melbourne's political and cultural nuances. He has been published in the UK, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Finland and the U.S.

Telemovies of Stiff and The Brush-Off, starring David Wenham, were broadcast in 2004. In 2004 Shane also released the comic phrase book, The Happy Phrase, co-authored with Guy Rundle.

Before becoming a full-time writer, Shane worked as a booking agent for rock bands, the promotions manager for Melbourne public radio station 3RRR, public relations director for the Boy Scouts Association, an arts bureaucrat for state and local government, general manager of the Melbourne Comedy Festival, cultural director for Melbourne's bid to host the 1996 Olympics and, finally, a swimming pool lifeguard.

Shane is a regular contributor to newspapers, magazines and anthologies. His most recent books are the bind-ups The Murray Whelan Trilogy (books one to three in the series) and The Next Murray Whelan Trilogy (books four to six).

The seventh and final Murray Whelan novel is due for publication in 2010.