Harry Tremayne, a policeman, goes to an isolated valley in the remote Murchison region of Western Australia to find his brother – who vanished a month earlier while investigating the murder of a police detective. Do the gold smugglers at Breakaway House hold the answers to the mystery?<br /> <br />First published as a serial in the Perth Daily News in 1932, the real setting for the book is Mt Magnet, about 150k north of Perth, deep in gold country.<br /> <br /><i>'It is somewhat less intense and less effective than the books in the Bony series, but it is successful as an early effort of Upfield's treatment of the Australian outback.'</i> – Ray Browne, <i>The Spirit of Australia</i>
Arthur Upfield, creator of the Aboriginal detective 'Bony' followed his classic crime novel <i>The Sands of Windee</i> with this historical romance:<br /> <br />The Crown Prince of Rolandia is visiting Australia – and two brilliant Americans, Earle Lawrence and Van Horton – abduct her on the trans-continental train on the Nullabor Plain. They hide her in caves near Eucla on the Great Australian Bight, until the search is called off and a ransom is arranged…
A powerful story of Australia's great sheep farms.<br /> <br />Gripped By Drought is a powerful story of a man's battle not only with the elements of nature which threatened the ruin of his huge Australian sheep-farm, but also with a loveless and unhappy marriage. For Frank Mayne, master of well-nigh a million-acre sheep station, life assumed its most dreary aspect. No rain for his farm, a wife who involved him in an orgy of spending and entertainment, and with disaster just round the corner, there seemed little prospect of happiness. Yet in the darkest hour of all, after the many unexpected and sometimes thrilling situations, the darkest hour of the drought gave way to rain and Mayne's tribulations became of the past.
An extraordinary case for Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte opens when a police car is bombed from the air on a lonely outback road by a mysterious pilot who plans to conquer a nation. The trail through the land of burning waters tests Bony's endurance to the limit and takes the detective as close to death as he has ever been. Welcome to Central Australia!<br /> <br /><i>This is surely one of Upfield's strongest books. It is filled with various kinds of symbolism – of religion, of clothes v nakedness, of action, of the fruits of love of white for aboriginal. Throughout the prose is rich, resonant, compelling. In this book are passages which are as rapid, graphic and enspiriting as in any other book.</i> – from <i>The Spirit of Australia </i>by Ray Browne.
This biography of Frank Cobbold opens when Frank goes to sea on a Clipper aged 14. It follows him through inexperience as a Fijian trader who escaped the cannibals' cook pot and survived one of the worst hurricanes in living memory. In Australia he learned the skills of a surveyor and quickly became a sought-after and trusted station manager. Despite problems that would have defeated a less resolute man he took droughts, cheats and unyielding land tenure regulations in his stride to become one of Australia's great pioneering pastoralists. Admired by fellow bushmen, trusted by his partners and wooed by bankers, his gritty determination earned him a small fortune which he gave away. It's a remarkable story.
Somewhere within Arthur Upfield's travelling dray were the clues to uncovering three acts of murder involving the grifter, Snowy Rowles. Once Upfield had published his crime thriller, The Sands of Windee, West Australian police gave chase, starting with the esteemed author of Bony…
Deep in Australia's outback, a woman has been murdered, her daughter vanished. Ole Fren Yorky, a crazy wanderer, is known to have been in the area, and his footprints have been identified near the body. When he too disappears, even the Aboriginal trackers are baffled. Bony's approach changes everything…<br /> <br /><i>It becomes one of Bony's great adventures… He pictures the merits of Aboriginal society. And he uses weather – in this case the threatening rising of the lake – to picture man's heroic stature. The setting, the events, the pace of telling the story, the style of telling it – all combine to make this a tight, effective crime novel.</i> – From <i>The Spirit of Australia</i> by Ray Browne.
If any man was ever born to be murdered, it was William Lush – a hated drunk who disappeared after beating his wife to death. Plenty of men had the opportunity to murder Lush, some the means, none the motive. Jill Madden, his pretty step-daughter, had all three… When Lush disappears, Inspector Bonaparte must look for a body – and the murderer – before the Darling River rises to flood level…<br /> <br /><i>This novel is one of Upfield's major accomplishments… Bony's determined search no matter where guilt falls is fascinating… This book is Upfield at his best.</i> – from <i>The Spirit of Australia </i>by Ray Browne.
Tucked away in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales is Cork Valley, inhabited by hard-drinking Irishmen. Here an Excise Officer looking for illicit whiskey 'stills' has been murdered, and it's Bony's job to find the killer. Disguised as a horse-thief, the Aboriginal detective hitch-hikes into the valley to meet a lawless lot…<br /> <br /><i>Written by Upfield while living in Bowral, Cork Valley is actually Robertson.</i><br /> <br /><i>Bony – a unique figure among top-flight detectives.</i> – BBC
In the little town of Mitford, New South Wales, four babies have been stolen – all boys, all under three months old, and all apparently neglected by their mothers. The local police have given up and the trail is cold. Then a fifth child vanishes, and the mother is found dead next to the empty cot. Inspector Bonaparte is called in, first to find the missing children, and only then to solve the murder…<br /> <br /><i>Bony – a unique figure among top-flight detectives.</i> – BBC