"Tragedy is dogging the steps of Donald McPherson, wealthy owner of a cattle station on the fringe of Central Australia. And 'black velvet" is at the heart of the tragedy.
The murder of two stockmen brings Police-Sergeant Errey to investigate. But before he reaches the homestead his car is bombed from the air and he is killed.
Detective-Inspector (Bony) Bonaparte, detailed to run to earth the murderers of the stockmen, sees the bombing; in fact, narrowly escapes it himself. Inquiries at the homestead revealing no knowledge of either plane or pilot, Bony sets himself to solve the mystery – with dramatic consequences.
this absorbing story, with its authentic picture of the Australian Aborigines, is another Upfield mystery with a difference. And Bony, beloved of Upfield fans, is as brilliant and as endearing as ever." - from the jacket of the 1970 Angus & Robertson edition

"A police car is bombed from the air on a lonely outback road in the untamable and unfathomable wilds of Australia. The victim, killed instantly, is a senior police officer; the culprit, a mysterious pilot who plans to conquer the nation; and the investigator, the brillian Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte. As Bony tracks the elusive pilot through the land of Burning Water, he is drawn into a bewitching web of family intrigue. This extraordinary, richly detailed mystery, classic Upfield, leads Bony closer to death than ever before." - from the 1986 Collier edition

"Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte–swagman–relaxing in a grove of six cabbage trees, has his noon-day tea break rudely disturbed when Sergeant Errey of the South Australian Police Department is killed by a bomb from a silver-gray monoplane which totally destroys the car in which he is riding. Bony rescues a leather attache case from near the burning vehicle and encounters Writjitandil, Chief of the Wantella Nation. This is a tremendously exciting bush adventure with kidnapping, torture and snakebite (not the least agonizing description being the treatment of the snakebite). Bony solves the mystery in his usual great manner." – from "The Armchair Detective"

Location: McPherson's Station (fictional), 80 miles northwest of Shaw's Lagoon, S.A. (also fictional), but somewhere not far Northwest of Lake Frome.

Bushranger of the Skies was first printed in 1940 by Angus and Robertson of Sydney. The American edition was printed by Doubleday as part of its Crime Club series in 1944, but was retitled No Footprints in the Bush. A Canadian edition printed by McClelland and Stewart also appeared in 1944. The Collier Books edition of 1986 is pictured above.