Unlike most of the series, this mystery is not laid in the outback. It is a conventional urban murder of a successful though not very pleasant Australian writer. Although Inspector Bonaparte solves it compentently, it is much less interesting than usual --it could be set in any British or American urban setting in most respects. I was grateful to Collier though for reprinting several of the series I had not been able to get. I picked up some of them in the Borders bookstore in Ann Arbor. ( )

Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte skips his holiday to take on the case of a famous author who was found dead in his writing room while hosting a houseful of other, less accomplished, authors. Bony is far from his native Queensland and has to do his tracking in Melbourne and its suburbs, and figure out the pecking order of the very snobbish Australian literary circle.

I've read early books in the series when Bony was written as arrogant and unlikable, and I've read from later in the series, featuring a humble Bony. This is book eleven in the series and Bony falls right in between, being kind to a lonely woman and her cat, then telling the local police he didn't know what they'd do without him and telling another character that he could have an affair with a certain beautiful woman if he wanted. This is a good one, with vivid characters, one of which I think might be a parody of Upfield himself. ( )

An atypical Upfield, since Bony's only excursion into the "bush" is to sit reading books under a lilac tree in the back yard. Is there a bit of wish fulfillment in this tale, considering that the victim is an odious author/critic who styles himself the doyen of Australian literature and who castigates those who practice "commercial fiction"? Part of the comedy is Bony's inability to grasp the distinction. The gruff character Clarence B. Bagshot appears to be Upfield's self-portrait. Quite amusing, but as a mystery, well, the first three words of the title pretty much sum it up. ( )

Australian author Mervyn Blake is sure he's the greatest living writer of his country. But he's not for long--living, that is. It seems someone has had enough of the literary figure and done a rather final edit. Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is on the case. He may be a little far from his native bush country, but he's just as able to deal with the literary jungle.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a little dated, and I felt the ending was a little rushed, but it was a good read. It was a nice twist to see Bony in a very different atmosphere than his usual one. ( )