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In the Grampian Mountains, two girl hitch-hikers have disappeared without trace, and the policeman sent to investigate has been murdered. Bonaparte visits the lonely hotel where the girls were last seen, and meets up with the suave proprietor, his strangely terrified father, an ex-US paratrooper with a penchant for knife-throwing, and a talking parrot…

 

All in all, this is a high suspense drama, and a fine Upfield story. - From The Spirit of Australia by Ray Browne.

 

Bony - a unique figure among top-flight detectives - BBC

An intriguing case for Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte begins on a calm October day in an Australian seaside near Bermagui. Three men set out to sea for a day's fishing... and do not return. Despite intensive searches, no trace of the men or their boat is found, until, weeks later, a passing trawler hauls in a gruesome catch - the head of one of the missing fishermen. It is quite clear that its owner was murdered with a pistol shot. But by whom, and why, is for Bony to find out.

 

A thriller with a new kind of thrill. - Sheffield Morning Telegraph

The nude body of a man is discovered entombed in the walls of Split Point Lighthouse on the south-east coast of Australia. Inspector Bonaparte wonders why a coffin is moved at night, who was the girl struggling with Dick Lake on the cliff tops, and what caused the Bully Buccaneers to deal in death. An ordinary policeman could afford to fail, but Bony, never...

 

The story takes place at Split Point, 80 miles between Anglesea and Lorne... The story is enlivened - and made more stark by contrast - by a series of Dickensian characters who are unexcelled in Upfield and perhaps elsewhere as well. Despite the solemnity of the occasion for the visit, Upfield maintains a kind of corpse-like humour which is very amusing... The whole book is first-class Upfield and first-class crime fiction. - from The Spirit of Australia by Ray Browne

The nude body of a man is discovered entombed in the walls of Split Point Lighthouse on the south-east coast of Australia. Inspector Bonaparte wonders why a coffin is moved at night, who was the girl struggling with Dick Lake on the cliff tops, and what caused the Bully Buccaneers to deal in death. An ordinary policeman could afford to fail, but Bony, never...

 

The story takes place at Split Point, 80 miles between Anglesea and Lorne... The story is enlivened - and made more stark by contrast - by a series of Dickensian characters who are unexcelled in Upfield and perhaps elsewhere as well. Despite the solemnity of the occasion for the visit, Upfield maintains a kind of corpse-like humour which is very amusing... The whole book is first-class Upfield and first-class crime fiction. - from The Spirit of Australia by Ray Browne

A barking mad mystery.

The Nosy Detectives agency is like no other. For a start, one of the detectives is a dog called Monty, a rescued Golden Retriever with a heart of gold and a super-smart nose. Rose Sidebottom, an ex-copper, has an uncanny ability to know when a suspect is lying. And Ollie Fernsby is a teenage super-geek and inventor of the rat-cam. They make a great team. There is just one problem - no clients.

Then one day, Phyllis O'Neal, a grumpy grandmother from the village of Nether Wallop, offers them an unsolved cold case they can't refuse - who really lit the fire that killed Tony and Marie Toyne? The surviving son and only witness, Finn, hasn't spoken since that terrible night.

Monty sets out to locate a forgotten second witness, a dog called Panda, who might recognise the arsonist if she had a good sniff. The tricky case gets harder when Rose is distracted by a handsome fire-scene investigator.

Can Monty get Rose back on track? Is Tiffany the giant cat friend or foe? And why is the whole village lying about the night of the fire?

Can the Nosy Detectives solve the pawfect murder?

A young Australian travelling for academic purposes in Europe visits a monastery in Spain and is waylaid by an old man selling his produce by the roadside at a nearby war cemetery. He innocently asks about the massive eucalypt trees in the monastery grounds and is then entranced by the old man and the story he tells of their history which weaves together the secret 16th-century exploration of Terra Australis, the Emperor Charles V, the dedication of a botanist, fundamentals of gardening and the wonder of Nature.

 

"I found myself translating a story written by someone I hardly knew, about some apparently incomprehensible fantastical old man in the middle of nowhere telling his story involving ancient Spanish historical figures, to an unnamed and bewildered young foreigner with little command of the language." - Irene Esteve Gúrpide - translator

'Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is.' - Sherlock Holmes to Dr John Watson, A Study in Scarlet.

Since his first appearance in 1887, Sherlock Holmes has been the quintessential English sleuth, alongside his loyal companion and biographer, Doctor John Watson.

But what if they had come from some other place in the world, or another time? How would they differ from Conan Doyle's creations? How similar might they remain?

Holmes and Watson are herein re-imagined in new cultural contexts, in different genders and sexualities, and in stories rich in foreign detail that still reflect their origins.

Fourteen writers with cultural or historic expertise explore the possibilities in stories set in Germany, C17th England, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Russia, India, Poland, USA, Ancient Egypt, Viking Iceland, and even the entire world.

You will discover how the Great Detective remains singular in every world!

Lissa Wilson has seen more than enough death in her family, so when people start being savagely killed whenever she has a night out in Melbourne, she's determined to investigate and to make the killing stop.

Even when she realises the murders must be the work of a vampire.

She reluctantly teams up with the painfully-awkward suburban vampire, Gary, who has been instructed by Melbourne's vampires to find out who's making existence so difficult for the undead community.

But in getting to the undead heart of the matter, Lissa and Gary face more challenges than Gary's appalling fashion sense. Particularly when the idea of living forever can be a big temptation for someone who has lost so much.

 

'A well-made plot with a killer (literally) ending.' - Kerry Greenwood

 

'It's certainly a most unusual vampire novel. Lissa Wilson is a wonderful character; not because she's an heroic supergirl, but because she rings true. If you can get this book, do.' - Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood novels.

Olivia Alexander (nee Sharp) thinks her biggest problem is discovering her husband's affair.
Then a stranger accosts her on the street warning, "Don't sign anything." When Olivia reluctantly follows his advice, everything starts to fall apart. Suddenly assassins, safe houses, and ruthless global corporations are hew new reality, and she's running for her life.
In a shadow world unknown to Olivia, Livvie Sharp's partner goes missing, someone tries to kidnap her little girl, and now she too is on the run as someone hunts her. Someone using her loved ones as weapons to bring her down.
Then she meets the other Olivia.

This story deserves to be told. Garry Willmott creates graphic and quite horrifying insights into unseen and 'unsung' aspects of World War 1, where so many Australian, Canadian, British, New Zealander, American and French soldiers were slaughtered and still, today, lie uninterred in forgotten furrows of French fields.

The author tells this story in a simple direct style which has an immediate impact. Garry Willmott's ancestors are among those who lost their lives fighting against the Kaiser's Juggernaut. The characters of the soldiers come to life and even in death, their spirits are revived in the telling.

The courage of our soldiers and their betrayal by British Generals moves the reader to sorrow and to anger as we witness not only the terrible personal suffering of the soldiers, but also the long-term effects upon families left behind.

What is the nature of human love? Burt enters his office one day to find a large handwritten folder marked "CONFIDENTIAL". The unexpected package has come from an old university mate: a charming, successful, and well-loved Australian man named Ted Harris. Twenty-five years post-university, Ted seems to have it all: a partnership in a successful law firm, respect, wealth, and the perfect wife.

However, as Burt delves deeper into these documents - which turns out to be an intensely personal confessional - he discovers that things are not what they seem, and that Ted harbours a dark and mysterious past relating to his first wife, peculiar Swiss biochemist Yvonne.

In The Other Wife, Manfred Jurgensen uses his unique writing style and several narrative voices to examine the internal conflicts of disease, our responsibility for those we care for, and the very nature of this undefinable thing we call love.

"The seemingly contradictory senses of menace and sensitivity exist in an uneasy ease in Manfred Jurgensen's writing." - Lily Brett

"...complex and confident, ambitious, yet always assured as it explores our solitariness in the midst of social life." - The Canberra Times

"Manfred Jurgensen is a gifted writer who knows how to surprise the reader." - Elizabeth Jackson, Inkwell New York

The charismatic Barry Kant hosts a TV reality show in which contestants who have suffered horrific events in their lives share their stories. A ravenous and voyeuristic audience votes for the one who's suffered the worst life experience, the winner receiving the grand prize of $100,000.

Increasingly jaded and still grieving the loss of his beloved wife, Kant meets a new woman whom he believes he can allow himself to love. But after only a few days she unfolds a shocking revelation which changes the course of his life.

'The Poet' is a tale of obsession, art, and the thresholds between day and night. Manfred is a nondescript insurance clerk, inflexibly honest and imbued with a profound sense of order. He is also a prolific poet, but has never tried to publish - until now.

The novella traces the events and experiences that befall Manfred in the wake of a single moment's carelessness, a mistake that will change his life. He enters a maze he must negotiate, between action and paralysis, inspiration and despair, guilt - and the phantom, love.

We encounter an eccentric stranger bent on a terrible mission, the publisher of a deceitful new author, and the city that forms a living, shifting backdrop to the interior drama, as Manfred struggles with his predicament, his muse, and the labyrinth of his implacable honesty. It is a journey from common daylight into a darkness flickering with both hope and oblivion; a journey across the fragile web of what we understand as sanity.

Where will Antonia's search for truth lead and who will suffer?

When film and TV graduate, Antonia Carlyle sets out to make a documentary about eighties band, 'The Tough Romantics', she uncovers new facts surrounding the death of singer song-writer, Genevieve. This leads her to suspect that the man arrested for her murder was not the killer.

One of the three surviving band members believes it is time to settle old ghosts but the other two have gone on to forge solo careers and don't want Antonia to rake up the past. One of them knows who the killer is, the other needs to hide their guilt.

A growing psychic link with the dead girl and the conviction that justice must be done, drives Antonia to face her own demons, uncover the past and confront the present.

Set during the Gold Rush days, The Promised Land concludes Mudrooroo's fantastical voyage through the history of Australia around the time of its colonisation by the British. This is satire at its most cutting, and entertaining.

Sir George Augustus returns to the Great South Land with his young wife, Lady Lucy, intending to establish a mission to educate and 'Christianise' the native people. When he hears that gold has been found on the land, his missionary zeal increases. Accompanied by the mysterious white woman, Amelia Fraser, and a troop of native police, he sets out on an expedition to the diggings. As Sir George journeys into what he hopes is a golden future, his past begins to creep up on him, and those he thought were dead return to confront him.

The final book in the Master of the Ghost Dreaming series.