Beware of the Dog — Peter Corris

The blonde was in black stockings, bra and neck ribbon. And she was on fire, as the house around her exploded before Cliff Hardy's eyes. For Hardy it started at a college lecture he gave. One student had begun to haunt him, and another hired him to hound her husband. By the time Hardy climbed up out of the gleaming seaside city of Sydney into the Blue Mountains, the two cases were on their way to becoming one: fused by deception and a fireball that killed two lovers and left Cliff Hardy fighting for his life. Now the Aussie private eye has to find an addled woman's connection to the bombing and unravel a family's darkest secrets. When he does, he'll enter a hell guarded by a snarling dog - a hell of lies, murder, and smoldering family ties.