Inspector Bonaparte (Arthur Upfield) Books in Order
Part ofArthur Upfield Books in OrderSee the Inspector Bonaparte books by Arthur Upfield in order, with Bony summaries, series background, reading order, and starting points.
Last updated: June 7, 2026
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Publication Order
29 books
The Barrakee Mystery / The Lure of the Bush
by Arthur Upfield
1929
Bony's first case takes him to a Darling River sheep station after the death of an Aboriginal man. Family secrets, divided loyalties, and station life shape the mystery that launched the series.
The Sands of Windee
by Arthur Upfield
1931
Luke Marks disappears after leaving Windee Station, and the local explanation looks too easy to Bony. A small detail in a photograph sends him into the sands after a carefully hidden crime.
Wings Above the Diamantina / Wings Above the Claypan
by Arthur Upfield
1936
A stolen red monoplane is found on a dry lake bed with a paralysed young woman inside and no pilot in sight. Bony follows the impossible scene into a dangerous Queensland mystery.
Mr. Jelly's Business / Murder Down Under
by Arthur Upfield
1937
Bony investigates the disappearance of George Loftus after his wrecked car is found near Western Australia's rabbit-proof fence. The odd habits of amateur criminologist Mr. Jelly may hold the key.
Winds of Evil
by Arthur Upfield
1937
In a dusty outback town, a killer known as the Strangler strikes during wind and sandstorms. Bony must understand the weather, the town's fears, and the mind behind the pattern.
The Bone is Pointed
by Arthur Upfield
1938
Jack Anderson disappears after his horse returns riderless, and nobody seems eager to mourn him. Bony takes up the cold trail in Queensland station country, where fear and old grudges sit close together.
The Mystery of Swordfish Reef
by Arthur Upfield
1939
A fishing boat vanishes off Bermagui on a calm day, and a trawler later hauls up a grim clue from the sea. Bony enters big-game fishing country to untangle a coastal mystery.
Bushranger of the Skies / No Footprints in the Bush
by Arthur Upfield
1940
Bony is on his way to a remote station when a plane bombs a police car and kills the local sergeant. The trail leads into burning country and a killer who attacks from the air.
Death of a Swagman
by Arthur Upfield
1945
A swagman is found dead near the small town of Merino, and one detail in a police photograph catches Bony's eye. He follows the clue into a lonely landscape of huts, tracks, and suspicion.
The Devil's Steps
by Arthur Upfield
1946
On assignment near Melbourne and the Dandenong Ranges, Bony leaves his usual outback ground for a mountain resort mystery. A body at Wideview Chalet forces him to read city manners and bush signs together.
An Author Bites the Dust
by Arthur Upfield
1948
At a literary house party, famous author and critic Mervyn Black is found murdered among guests who know the art of character assassination. Bony must read vanity, jealousy, and performance as clues.
The Mountains Have a Secret
by Arthur Upfield
1948
When two young women disappear while hiking in the mountains, Bony is called into rugged country where silence and distance protect the guilty. The case blends outdoor danger with a tightly held secret.
The Bachelors of Broken Hill
by Arthur Upfield
1950
Elderly bachelors are being poisoned in Broken Hill, and witnesses keep describing a different woman near each death. Bony enters the mining city and uses unlikely helpers to sort pattern from misdirection.
The New Shoe / The Clue of the New Shoe
by Arthur Upfield
1951
A body is found sealed inside the walls of Split Point Lighthouse on the Victorian coast. Bony investigates coffins moved by night, cliffside secrets, and a new shoe that points toward murder.
The Widows of Broome
by Arthur Upfield
1951
Two wealthy widows are strangled in Broome, and the killer leaves almost nothing behind. Bony poses as a psychiatrist, studies the town's widows, and prepares a trap before another woman dies.
Venom House
by Arthur Upfield
1952
The Answerth mansion sits on an island in a man-made lake, surrounded by dead trees and old fear. Bony investigates deaths tied to the strange household, where family history feels poisonous.
Murder Must Wait
by Arthur Upfield
1953
In Mitford, baby boys are being stolen, and the latest kidnapping leaves a mother dead beside an empty cot. Bony must find the missing children first, while the murder waits its turn.
Death of a Lake
by Arthur Upfield
1954
Raymond Gillen swims in a remote station lake and vanishes. Years later, as drought drains the water away, Bony arrives in disguise and waits for the dying lake to give up its secret.
Sinister Stones / Cake in the Hat Box
by Arthur Upfield
1954
In the Kimberley, Bony faces a puzzle of strange clues, local rivalries, and a tracker who may be as sharp as he is. The case turns on patience, landscape, and details others miss.
Man of Two Tribes
by Arthur Upfield
1956
Myra Thomas disappears from a train crossing the Nullarbor, apparently dressed only in nightclothes. With camels and a dog, Bony searches the plain and finds a stranger, darker mystery beneath the limestone.
The Battling Prophet
by Arthur Upfield
1956
Ben Wickham's uncanny weather forecasts make him useful, feared, and hated. When his death is written off too easily, Bony suspects murder and searches for the calculations powerful people want to control.
Bony Buys a Woman / The Bushman Who Came Back
by Arthur Upfield
1957
A woman is murdered, her young daughter disappears, and suspicion falls on wandering Ole Fren Yorky. Bony follows the trail into Lake Eyre country, where local knowledge and a rising lake change everything.
Bony and the Black Virgin / The Torn Branch
by Arthur Upfield
1959
At a drought-stricken station near Lake Jane, two men have been brutally killed. Bony faces a hard landscape, frightened witnesses, and a case where every track seems to lead toward deeper trouble.
Bony and the Mouse / Journey to the Hangman
by Arthur Upfield
1959
In the remote Western Australian town of Daybreak, three murders have left the locals wary and silent. Bony arrives as horse-breaker Nat Bonnar, watching the town until its secrets begin to shift.
Bony and the Kelly Gang / Valley of Smugglers
by Arthur Upfield
1960
An excise officer has been murdered in Cork Valley while investigating illicit stills. Bony goes undercover among close-knit Irish families, where loyalty, smuggling, and local pride make the truth hard to reach.
Bony and the White Savage
by Arthur Upfield
1961
In the forests and caves of south-western Western Australia, Bony hunts Marvin Rhudder, a dangerous fugitive with a respectable past. This is a tense pursuit story built around tracking, psychology, and rugged coastal country.
The Will of the Tribe
by Arthur Upfield
1962
A body appears inside a remote meteor crater, with no tracks to explain how it got there. In Hall's Creek country, Bony must listen to local stories, station tensions, and old laws to find the killer.
Madman's Bend / The Body at Madman's Bend
by Arthur Upfield
1963
Violent William Lush vanishes as the Darling River begins to rise, threatening to wash away every clue. Bony must decide whether he is hunting a fugitive, a victim, or a killer hidden in flood country.
The Lake Frome Monster
by Arthur Upfield
1966
A photographer is found dead near Lake Frome, and local talk blames a fearsome feral camel. Bony works through heat, silence, and vanishing evidence to uncover the human truth behind the outback legend.
Series background & context
Arthur Upfield's Inspector Bonaparte series centers on Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, better known as Bony. He works for the Queensland Police, but his cases carry him across Australia, from cattle stations and mining towns to coastlines, deserts, river country, and remote settlements where strangers are noticed and secrets can sit for years.
Bony is a detective who waits.
That patience is the engine of the series. He can follow a physical trail, but he is just as interested in pride, shame, fear, family habits, and the little mistakes people make when they think they are safe. Local police often want a quick answer. Bony wants the right one, and he is quite willing to take a job under an assumed identity if that is what the case needs.
The first book, The Barrakee Mystery, introduces him in Darling River country. From there, Upfield keeps changing the ground under him. The Sands of Windee uses a lonely sheep station and a missing man. Wings Above the Diamantina opens with a stolen plane on a dry lake bed. The Widows of Broome moves into a pearling town, The Bachelors of Broken Hill into a mining community, and Man of Two Tribes onto the Nullarbor Plain.
Upfield often lets the landscape do real detective work. Floodwater can erase evidence. Drought can reveal it. A dust storm can hide a killer. A lake, a lighthouse, a meteor crater, or an isolated cave can shape the crime as much as any human plan. That is one reason the books feel different from many city-based mysteries of the same period.
The tone is usually measured rather than flashy. There is danger, but the books often spend as much time with camp routines, station life, local gossip, and weather as with suspects in drawing rooms. Readers who enjoy slow-burn detection, strong settings, and puzzles built from practical detail tend to settle into the rhythm quickly.
Modern readers should also know that the books reflect the racial language and assumptions of the decades in which they were written. Bony himself is a mixed-race Aboriginal Australian character, educated, observant, and proud, but the surrounding narration and dialogue can be very much of its time. Read with that context in mind, the series remains an important part of Australian crime fiction history.
For a first taste, try The Sands of Windee or Death of a Lake. For the full development of Bony, start at The Barrakee Mystery and follow the publication order.
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