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Arthur Upfield (1890–1964)

Author of The Bone Is Pointed

50+ Works 6,011 Members 129 Reviews 16 Favorited

About the Author

Author Arthur W. Upfield was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England on September 1, 1890. He moved to Australia and adopted it as his homeland. He is best known for his series of books featuring Detective Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte of the Queensland State Police. He died on February 13, 1964. show more (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an9897467-1-v

Series

Works by Arthur Upfield

The Bone Is Pointed (1938) 326 copies
Mr. Jelly's Business (1937) 269 copies
The Bachelors of Broken Hill (1950) 263 copies
The Sands Of Windee (1931) 246 copies
Death of a Lake (1954) 237 copies
Cake in the Hatbox (1954) 234 copies
Death Of A Swagman (1945) 230 copies
The Clue of the New Shoe (1952) 229 copies
Bony and the Mouse (1959) 215 copies
Wings Above The Diamantina (1936) 213 copies
The Mountains Have a Secret (1948) 213 copies
Bony Buys a Woman (1957) 207 copies
Venom House (1952) 200 copies
The Widows of Broome (1950) 198 copies
Bony and the Black Virgin (1959) 194 copies
The Will of the Tribe (1962) 191 copies
The Battling Prophet (1956) 190 copies
Murder Must Wait (1953) 184 copies
Winds of Evil (1937) 183 copies
An Author Bites the Dust (1948) 178 copies
Bushranger of the Skies (1940) 171 copies
The Barrakee Mystery (1929) 169 copies
The Devil's Steps (1946) 166 copies
Bony and the White Savage (1961) 130 copies
The Lake Frome Monster (1966) 129 copies
Madman's Bend (1963) 109 copies
The House of Cain (1928) 15 copies
Breakaway House (1987) 9 copies
The Murchison Murders (1934) 8 copies
The Beach of Atonement (1930) 7 copies
A Royal Abduction (1932) 7 copies
Up and Down Australia (2008) 5 copies
Walkabout (2021) 3 copies
Gripped by Drought (1932) 2 copies

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Arthur W. Upfield in Crime, Thriller & Mystery (July 2011)

Reviews

Didn't like it as well as the first bony I read, it was a bit melvillian in its dedication to sword fishing and the bits about his "aboriginal " side asserting itself are uncomfortable for modern sensibilities. Still interesting plot, appealing characters and a satisfying resolution
 
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cspiwak | 5 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
this was the first of the series that I had read.
Enjoyed the psychological aspects and the fact that you were not trying to solve a crime
but instead dealing with the effects produced by that crime in the families and community effected by it
interesting
 
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cspiwak | 1 other review | Mar 6, 2024 |
It is accessible online, for free. A century ago when Australia was being populated by immigrants and exiles from the British Isles author Arthur Upfield arrived to weave tales of murder, vice, and other mysteries. What Upfield exploited was the voracious thirst for content by newspapers throughout the continent. As far as I can tell most if not all his works first appeared in serial form. Barrakee shows up in at least six newspapers. You can access them by visiting TROVE , a special searchable collection of Aussie publications within the National Library of Australia. If you wonder what it was like to anxiously grab the paper each day for the next bit of a tale, Upfields collection is worth reading for Australian geography and climate alone.… (more)
 
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Lace-Structures | 5 other reviews | Nov 11, 2023 |
Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte arrives in the tiny outpost of Merino as he usually enters these stories: Undercover as a half-caste itinerant "swagman" or itinerant worker. He contrives to get himself arrested as prelude to confiding his true identity to the local police sergeant, telling him he has arrived to investigate the recent murder of a local stockman.

Bony's usual method is to wander around talking to everyone, taking their measure and looking for the deadly "sting-ray" among the human fish he collects in his net. As he says, referencing an earlier book in the series, "It is not very exciting work. It is not comparable, for instance, to angling for swordfish." There aren't many fish for Bony to sweep up in his net, with a population of 120 people scattered over a 9,000-square mile region, but it still takes time to pinpoint the culprit.

The mystery itself is a cut above the average in this series, except for the ultimate motivation of the killer. Bony's whimsical relationship with the police sergeant's young daughter is charming. And as always, Upfield paints a picture of the Australian outback that makes me feel as if I've been there. Here it's a geological feature called the Walls of China, a great sand dune formed long ago by the action of the ever-present wind.

A solid entry in a solid series.
… (more)
 
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rosalita | 9 other reviews | Oct 4, 2023 |

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Works
50
Also by
6
Members
6,011
Popularity
#4,097
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
129
ISBNs
702
Languages
6
Favorited
16

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