# Rubdown

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{{Short description|2005 crime novel by Australian author Leigh Redhead}}
{{Use Australian English|date=December 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2025}}
{{Infobox book|
| name              = Rubdown
| title_orig        = 
| translator        = 
| image = Rubdown (Book Cover).jpeg
| caption           = 
| author            = [Leigh Redhead](/source/Leigh_Redhead)
| cover_artist      = 
| country           = Australia
| language          = English
| series            = Simone Kirsch
| genre             = Crime novel
| publisher         = [Allen & Unwin](/source/Allen_%26_Unwin)
| release_date      = 2005
| media_type        = Print
| pages             = 302
| isbn              = 1741145538
| preceded_by       = [Peepshow](/source/Peepshow_(novel))
| followed_by       = Cherry Pie
| awards            = 2006 [The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald_Best_Young_Australian_Novelists); 2006 [Davitt Award](/source/Davitt_Award), Readers Choice, winner
}}

'''''Rubdown''''' is a 2005 crime novel by Australian author [Leigh Redhead](/source/Leigh_Redhead).<ref name=NLA>{{cite web |title=''Rubdown'' by Leigh Redhead (A&U 2005) |publisher=National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3423339 |access-date=24 December 2025}}</ref> 

It is the second novel in the author's Simone Kirsch series of crime novels, following the author's 2004 novel ''[Peepshow](/source/Peepshow_(novel))''.<ref>{{cite web|title= ''Simone Kirsch series'' by Leigh Redhead|publisher= Austlit|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/C527173 |access-date= 24 December 2025}}</ref>

It was the winner of the Readers Choice [Davitt Award](/source/Davitt_Award) in 2006,<ref name=Davitt>{{cite web|title="Davitt Award Winners 2001-2025" |publisher= Sisters in Crime|url=https://sistersincrime.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Davitt-Winners_cumulative-table_2025.pdf|access-date= 24 December 2025}}</ref> and the author was named as one of [The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald_Best_Young_Australian_Novelists) in 2006.<ref name=SMH>{{cite news|last1=Wyndham|first1=Susan|title=The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists Award turns 20|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/the-sydney-morning-herald-best-young-australian-novelists-awards-turn-20-20160506-goojvx.html|accessdate=24 December 2025|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=9 May 2016}}</ref>

==Synopsis==

Simone Kirsch is engaged to check out Tamara Wade, the daughter of a prominent Melbourne family who has been involved with drugs and has worked in a massage parlor. Then Wade is found dead and Kirsch sets out to investigate.

==Critical reception==

Reviewing the novel in ''Australian Book Review'' Tony Smith noted: "Simone is a parody of male PIs and a metaphor for all women facing the 'have it all', post-feminist dilemma, and thus ''Rubdown'' is serious satire."<ref>{{cite web|title="Disparate crimes by Tony Smith" |publisher= Australian Book Review, September 2005|url=https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/archive/2005/september-2005-no-274/267-september-2005-no-274/12491-tony-smith-reviews-the-visitor-by-jane-r-goodall-rubdown-by-leigh-redhead-and-the-broken-shore-by-peter-temple|access-date= 24 December 2025}}</ref>

In her report about her time as a judge of the Davitt Award for Sisters in Crime, Sue Turnbull cal this novel "a witty, raunchy and frequently violent read about a stripper turned private eye."<ref>{{cite web|title="Turning Pages" |publisher= The Sunday Age, 29 October 2006|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/367315970|access-date= 24 December 2025|id= {{ProQuest|367315970}}}}</ref>

== Publication history ==
After the novel's initial publication in Australia by [Allen & Unwin](/source/Allen_%26_Unwin) in 2005<ref name=NLA /> it was reprinted by the same publisher in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Rubdown'' by Leigh Redhead (A&U 2007) |publisher=National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3797073 |access-date=24 December 2025}}</ref> 

It was also translated into German in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Rubdown'' by Leigh Redhead (Wilhelm Heyne Verlag) |publisher=National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4734456|access-date=24 December 2025}}</ref>

== Awards ==

* 2006 [Davitt Award](/source/Davitt_Award) for Readers Choice, winner<ref name=Davitt />
* 2006 [The Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists](/source/The_Sydney_Morning_Herald_Best_Young_Australian_Novelists)<ref name=SMH />
* 2006 [Ned Kelly Award](/source/Ned_Kelly_Awards), Best Novel, shortlisted<ref>{{cite web|title="Ned Kelly Awards 2006" |publisher= Stop You're Killing Me |url=https://www.stopyourekillingme.com/Awards/NedKelly_Awards.html#2006 |access-date= 24 December 2025}}</ref>
 
==Notes==
* 

==See also==
* [2005 in Australian literature](/source/2005_in_Australian_literature)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Davitt Award – Readers Choice}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubdown}}
Category:Australian crime novels
Category:2005 Australian novels
Category:2005 English-language novels
Category:Davitt Award–winning works

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rubdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubdown) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubdown?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.