Arthur William Upfield

From the front flap of the cover: Napoleon Bonaparte arrived quietly at Barrakee Stations, one of the best known homesteads in Australia's rich Darling River basin. Ostensibly he was a hired hand -- but in reality "Bony" was a detective with an urgent mission. The leader of the local aborigines, King Henry, had been murdered, and no one was beyond investigation. The wealthy and successful owner of Barrakee Station had a gracious wife, a beautiful niece, and a son returning from college. But two things marred John Thornton's happiness: an unresolved argument concerning his son, and the murder of King Henry.

"The discovery of a stolen red monoplane on the dry, flat bottom of Emu Lake meant many things for different folks. For Elizabeth Nettlefold, the chance to nurse its strangely ill meant renewed purpose in life. For Dr Knowles, brilliant physician and town drunk, it meant the revival of a romantic dream. For some it meant a murder plan gone awry, and for Bonaparte, it meant one of the toughest cases of his career."--Back cover.

An intriguing case for Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte begins on a calm October day in an Australian seaside town. 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 bullet. But by whom, and why, is for Bony to find out.

A tale about kidnapping and murder in keeping with the mystique of Bony. In the town of Mitford, NSW, five babies have disappeared and a woman, the mother of one of the babies, has been murdered.