"If any man was ever born to be murdered, that man was William Lush – a hated drunk who disappeared after beating his wife to death. Plenty of men had the opportunity to murder Lush, some the means, none the motive. Jill Madden, his pretty step-daughter, had all three. So where was Lush now? Before the Darling River rises to flood level, Inspector Bonaparte, th half-aborigine detective, must look for a body – and a murderer, if there's a body..." - from the 1966 Pan edition

"Jill Madden's father dies and her mother marries William Lush to help her run the 40,000 acre homestead. Lush is a cruel man who badly mistreats his wife. One night in a rage he nearly beats her to death and Jill is forced to fire her rifle through a closed door to keep him from breaking into the house. He disappears–did Jill kill him? Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is badly hampered in this case by terrifying floods, but he solves his case as usual." – from "The Armchair Detective"

Location: The Darling River Basin, near White Bend and Bourke, NSW.

Madman's Bend was first printed in 1963 by Heinemann in Britain and in America by the Doubleday Crime Club under the title The Body at Madman's Bend. The Pan paperback edition of 1984 is pictured here.