MURDER MUST WAIT (A Scribner Crime Classics)

Murder Must Wait is the 17th book in the popular Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte series by Australian author, Arthur Upfield. Although he usually prefers to deal with murder cases, Bony goes to the Riverina town of Mitford to investigate the disappearance of four babies after Sydney’s CID have been unable to make any headway. Just as he arrives, another baby is taken and the mother murdered. But Bony’s priority is the babies, and the murder must wait. And while he may be conceited, even Bony knows when he needs a woman’s input: he soon has the able Policewoman Alice McGorr from Melbourne assisting him. Are the murder and the disappearances linked? Is the theft of a native rock painting related to the case? Why are he and Alice being followed by aborigines? This mystery is set in 1952, long before the days of CSI, kinesics and DNA testing, yet Bony manages to cleverly deduce an awful lot from careful observation. A mended glove, shoe prints, a button, metal shavings, celluloid strips and hair-oil stains are all integral to the case. Upfield uses this novel to comment on the obnoxiousness of Australian sherry, anthropologists, the treatment of aborigines and the single-mindedness of novelists. And a mystery it may be, but Upfield’s descriptions are evocative and the atmosphere of outback NSW is marvellously portrayed: “….shortly after seven, when the sun-god was losing his grip on the world and showing his anger by splashing the sky with blood.” Another excellent read.