Part of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, book 18
First published 1998
Raymond Gillen enters the lake waters one evening at a remote sheep station and disappears without trace. The local constabulary investigates but reaches no conclusion about his fate. Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte arrives at the station posing as a horse breaker to conduct his own inquiry. The drought intensifies across the outback, causing the lake to shrink day by day through relentless evaporation. Bony discovers undercurrents of desire and jealousy among the station hands and residents. As he pieces together the events of that night, the water level continues dropping. The lake holds the key to what happened to Gillen, but only when the drought claims the last of the water will Bony uncover the truth. The investigation becomes a race between detection and nature itself.
Genres: adventure, mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: race-against-time, small-town
Setting: Australia, Outback
Period: 20th-Century
233 pages · Paperback · Duffy & Snellgrove