Australian farmer George Loftus disappeared without a trace on the stormy night of November 2. His car was discovered to have crashed into Australia's enormous rabbit fence, only a couple of miles from Loftus's house. Did the farmer leave his car and set off to walk the few miles between the rabbit fence and his home? If so, his wife said, he never arrived there. There was absolutely no evidence. The rain destroyed any traces that might have given experienced trackers some clue. Police were stymied. And so, nearly two weeks after Loftus's disappearance, Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte of the Queensland, Australia, police decided to forego his usual vacation and traveled to the farm town of Burracoppin to help a colleague discover what had become of George Loftus. Along the way, Bony would become fascinated by another mystery - the mystery of Loftus's neighbor, Mr. Jelly, who was given to frequent disappearances himself, and Bony would find it necessary to solve that second mystery before he could discover the truth. The story may be found in Murder Down Under, a 1937 Napoleon Bonaparte mystery by Arthur W. Upfield. It's the subject of this week's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the complete review by clicking here.
What is the secret of D-I Napoleon Bonaparte’s success? Bony himself will sum it up for you repeatedly over the course of the more than two dozen books in which he is featured. Bony says:
“Never race Time. Make Time an ally, for Time is the greatest detective that ever was or ever will be.”
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? And yet – as Bony will also tell you – it requires nearly superhuman will power to simply sit back for days, weeks, even months, and wait for time to uncover a pertinent clue that can give the patient Inspector Bonaparte the opening he needs to begin unraveling a vexing case of murder. In the case of George Loftus, the best Bony can do at first is wait, while he searches for other ways to open a crack in the case. One comes along, he thinks, in the person of Loftus’s neighbor, Mr. Jelly – a man who leaves home without warning from time to time, after being summoned to a nearby city by a cryptic telegram. He usually returns home some days later, somewhat the worse for wear. Many in Burracoppin think he has merely gone off on a prolonged bout of drinking – but he shows no sign of it, although he returns quite clearly very upset with whatever has been happening to him during his absences. Bony will make it his business to discover what Mr. Jelly's business really is...
There is a lot of Australia on display in Murder Down Under – at least a rough version of Australia as it was during the nineteen thirties, with its rugged outback and enormous wheat fields, its rough farmers and hired hands. And it doesn’t shy away from the controversial image of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, a man whose skin color and half-Caucasian, half Aborigine parentage makes him a figure of controversy to some, and whose skills make him an invaluable and greatly skilled detective. And, yes, he is a good friend to all who call him Bony. You’ll see that on display in Murder Down Under. I recommend it – and I recommend just about all of Arthur Upfield’s books about Bony – unreservedly.
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