"Though used to dealing in character assassination and verbal back-stabbing, the literary clique gathered at the house-party of Mervyn Blake, famous author and critic, is shocked when their host is found dead in his writing room. The cause of death cannot be determined. Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, forgoing a holiday to assist the Victorian police in the investigation, quickly adapts himself to the world of literary hates and jealousies. With little to go on, Bony gradually pieces together the mystery. A cat, a ping-pong ball, an alcoholic gardener--these unlikely clues suggest the lines of investigation, but it is Bony's observation of human nature and some shrewd literary sleuthing and finally uncovered the murder method, and the murderer.
One of the few Bonaparte mysteries with a setting away from the mulga forests and gibber flats of the outback, An Author Bites the Dust shows Bony at his best, and has all the realism and ingenuity of plot associated with Arthur W. Upfield's stories." - from the jacket of the 1967 Angus & Robertson edition

"Bony has been asked to investigate the case of Mervyn Blake, who had died of unknown causes nearly two months before, so that the case is nearly as cold as the author-critic. Bony is staying with Miss Pinkerton as a visitor, and in his gentle way he persuades everybody to talk to him about what they know or even just guess. By sifting through this mass of information and adding his own observations he is finally able to face the guilty person with the knowledge of how the crime was committed–a most unusual method of murder authenticated by Taylor's Principles and Practice of MedicalJurisprudence." – from "The Armchair Detective

Location: Yarrabo, Victoria.

An Author Bites the Dust was printed in 1948 by Angus and Robertson of Sydney and by Doubleday's Crime Club. The 1984 Arkon edition printed by Angus and Robertson is shown above.