AUSTRALIANA Collectable

 First edition (UK). Signed by Author! (no dustjacket) SCARCE

The inimitable Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is on an island amidst treacherous waters. Venom House, the Answerth family mansion that is haunted by ghosts of aborigines, is playing host to a couple of murders that Bony must delve into.

• 258 p. ; 19 cm. #110924
• Australian fiction
• Please note: Signed Upfields are very scarce. Online so-called “signed copies” of post 1964 editions are not to be trusted as the author passed away in 1964!

Arthur William Upfield (1 September 1890 – 12 February 1964) was an English-Australian writer, best known for his works of detective fiction featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon “Bony” Bonaparte of the Queensland Police Force, a mixed-race Indigenous Australian. His books were the basis for a 1970s Australian television series entitled Boney, as well as a 1990 telemovie and a 1992 spin-off TV series.

Born in England, Upfield moved to Australia in 1911 and fought with the Australian military during the First World War. Following his war service, he travelled extensively throughout Australia, obtaining a knowledge of Australian Aboriginal culture that he would later use in his written works. In addition to writing detective fiction, Upfield was a member of the Australian Geological Society and was involved in numerous scientific expeditions.

An Englishman by birth, Arthur Upfield tried his luck in Australia in 1911. After a short spell as a waiter in Adelaide, Upfield felt drawn towards the Interior where he became a boundary-rider, offside-driver, cattle-drover, opal-gouger, rabbit-trapper, vermin fence patroller and manager of a camel station, drifting through the strange terrains and unusual company which were later to become the subject of his 35 novels, including 29 featuring Napoleon Bonaparte, or ‘Bony’ the Aboriginal detective.