Part of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, book 29.1
First published 2022
This collection brings together lost Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte stories that Arthur Upfield wrote during his time at the coastal town of Bermagui. The centerpiece is "The Fish That Danced on its Tail," a complete Bony mystery that remained unpublished until now. Upfield visited Bermagui around 1936, the same period when American author Zane Grey stayed there, and fell in love with the seaside location's wine-fresh air and endless surf music. The town's dramatic rocky headlands and its reputation for big game fishing captured his imagination. Beyond the new Bony tale, readers will find Upfield's fishing stories written exclusively for the local Bermagui Anglers Club, an unpublished piece on big game fishing, and "A Wisp of Wool and Disk of Silver," the only other known Bony short story. A chapter from his novel "The Mystery of Swordfish Reef" rounds out this treasure trove from the family archives, complete with rare photographs that document Upfield's connection to this fishing paradise that inspired some of his best work.
Genres: australia, 20th-century, adventure, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family
Setting: Bermagui
Period: 1936
83 pages · Paperback · ETT Imprint