The Unofficial Arthur W. Upfield Homepage

This page is dedicated to writer Arthur W. Upfield and his famous half-aborigine sleuth, Detective-Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte of the Queensland State Police Criminal Investigation Branch.

Upfield wrote twenty-nine Bony mystery stories between 1929 and 1962, as well as several other books including mysteries, romances, and an autobiography. I hope to add information on these other books to this site later as I have a chance to obtain and read them.

Arthur W. Upfield was born in England, but moved to Australia and adopted it as his homeland. He travelled throughout the country and tried his hand at many trades, including boundary rider and station hand. His travels lent him a weath of first hand experiences that make his books fascinating and believable. He captures the majesty of Australia, especially the outback country, and its people, both black and white.

Upfield's books have been troublesomely difficult to find as a result of their frequently erratic availability. As far as I know, none of the "non-Bony" books was ever printed beyond their original printings, and even many volumes in the Bony mysteries are frequently out of print for long periods of time. Angus and Robertson of Sydney published most of the Bony novels in paperback throughout the 1970's, 1980's and into the early 1990's then stopped printing them. In America a good number of the novels were printed by Collier/Scribner's during the same period, then suddenly stopped as well in the mid-1990's. It appears that Scribner's is slowly re-releasing a few Bony titles in new, larger, and somewhat overpriced editions. If you are interested in getting your hands on these books, your best bet is to check at second-hand bookshops; Upfield's books aren't as plentiful as they used to be (I remember when Powell's Books in Portland had an entire shelf of Upfield's books, but now I could hold their stock in one hand), but they're still out there and if you're patient you should be able to find them. I've also found that public libraries frequently have complete sets of the Doubleday Crime Club editions. Libraries and especially nursing homes and convalescent hospitals usually have some of the Ulverscroft large print editions of the Bony novels -- I borrowed several from my great-grandmother's nursing home before I was able to find copies to buy.

In the early 1970's Norfolk International released a series of television mysteries based on the Bony novels of Arthur Upfield. The show was named "Boney" and starred James Laurenson. As the show has never aired in the United States I've never had the opportunity to see it, but you can find more information here.

If you have any information you would like to pass along, please . I'm also always glad to hear from other lover's of Upfield's books. Helpful comments for the website are always welcome too.

Arthur W. Upfield & Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte

Arthur W. Upfield
&
Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte