REG Musty is described as a born and bred Aussie larrikin. He loves a cold beer on a hot day and would start a fight in an empty room.
The ex-butcher and ex-boxer with an ex-missus has a best mate – a little black pug named Lionel – and an unfortunate knack of, somehow, always getting into trouble …
And that’s why Musty’s world unravels when he gets involved in “keeping drugs off the streets – and his old ‘hood safe”.
Chelsea will never be the same as corrupt cops, wannabe bikers, a dodgy horse trainer and his old mate, Phuc the cook, come together in a yarn with more twists and turns than a can of worms.
One Shot McCain by Mordialloc’s Glenn Dumbrell – with help from editor Maria Koutsantonis – is a story loosely based on the author himself: warts and all.
And it’s starting to become a big seller in local bookshops and on Kindle.
“I grew up in Bonbeach and Chelsea and was always a big reader,” Dumbrell said.
“The teacher said I should have been a journalist, but I became a butcher and did a bit of amateur boxing in Mordialloc and have an ex-missus – so that part sounds like me.”
The story evolved, the words flowed and he kept writing them down – mostly during downtime at work at a pharmaceutical company. Soon, his book was born.
A keen follower of popular Sydney author Robert G. Barrett, who wrote the Les Norton novels, Dumbrell admits to leading a “knock-about” life like his hero and loves hearing and writing about the seedy side of life.
His own hero, Musty, is said to be a “crusty old bugger” who’s always a little bit politically incorrect or liable to kick up a fuss, such as when he can’t get his $2 coin out of the shopping trolley handle.
But that’s not a negative: “Feedback on the book via Facebook is mainly from women and it’s been really positive,” Dumbrell said. “And everyone who buys it tells somebody else.
“I wrote it five years ago and have gone over it five times and I am really happy with it. I gave the draft to a woman – a friend of Germaine Greer – who critiques manuscripts and she loved it.”
One Shot McCain was launched at Murphy’s Gym in Boundary Rd, Mordialloc, and already sales are good. It’s been sold in Japan, Germany and the US – much to its author’s pleasant surprise.
Bookshops at Beaumaris, Mornington, St Kilda, Richmond and Yarraville stock the novel at $25 and there’s a follow-up out in November. The Kindle price is $6.99.
“My Facebook page has had 200 likes,” he said. “So something’s got to be working.
“I’ve even entered the book in the Australian Crime Writer’s Ned Kelly Awards for Best First Fiction.”
