Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
New York: Scribner, 1983
Description
Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte agrees to help a colleague in the matter of the disappearance of George Loftus, a farmer whose car was found abandoned near the world's longest fence, in the wheat country of Western Australia. He immediately suspects murder but can't find the evidence to confirm it. Loftus's wife seems concerned about him, but his handsome hired man is an enigma. It is not until Bony becomes absorbed in the second mystery of Mr Jelly, an amateur criminologist who himself often disappears on secret business, that he finds the key to the strange goings-on in this seemingly ordinary farming community.
User reviews
LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
I can honestly highly recommend Mr. Jelly's Business to anyone who a)enjoys a good mystery or b) enjoys reading books set in Australia. As I've noted in previous reviews, you do have to be careful not to judge the book by today's standards, especially when it comes to attitude. Don't forget that
Brief synopsis:
One night, Mr. Loftus leaves a pub and is never seen nor heard from again. His car is found stranded in a ditch but he's nowhere to be found. Enter Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, who is technically not on duty at the time. Taking the guise as a worker on the Rabbit Fence, Bony snoops around unobtrusively to get to the heart of the mystery.
A very fun and very good book.
Show More
this was not originally written in 1982, but many decades earlier.Brief synopsis:
One night, Mr. Loftus leaves a pub and is never seen nor heard from again. His car is found stranded in a ditch but he's nowhere to be found. Enter Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, who is technically not on duty at the time. Taking the guise as a worker on the Rabbit Fence, Bony snoops around unobtrusively to get to the heart of the mystery.
A very fun and very good book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DollyBantry
Excellent mystery. Engaging detective. A little slow toward the end, but as DI Napoleon Bonaparte says, patience is a virtue. Also some anachronistic racism, but one must consider the time at which the book was written.
LibraryThing member antiquary
An early Bony novel set in a small town in the wheat fields of Western Australia along the Great Rabbit Fence. A protege of Bony's is baffled by a case, so Bony arranges to take it over, and gets a job on the Rabbit Fence.
A local farmer, George Loftus, allegedly got drunk and ran his car into a
A local farmer, George Loftus, allegedly got drunk and ran his car into a
Show More
ditch near the Rabbit Fence and vanished. Bony investigates several colorful local characters, one of whom, Mr. Jelly, is obsessed with Australian murderers and their executions. (This story has also been published as Mr. Jelly's Business. I recall the family collection used to have a copy under that title.) There is a brief new introduction in this edition by Edward Marston, author of a good series of mysteries set in the Elizabethan theater of Shakespeare's time. Show Less
LibraryThing member smik
Bony takes on the case of George Loftus' disappearance as a favour to a friend, and gets a job working on the Rabbit Proof Fence so he can keep the locals under observation and work out what has happened to Loftus. Mr Jelly is convinced that Loftus has been murdered by his wife and her lover, but
This novel is filled with Upfield's own philosophy about what creates murderers. We also find out a lot about aboriginal tracking methods, as well as more information about Bony's family background.
Show More
he is surrounded by his own mystery. He gets telegrams that summon him to Perth for at least a week at a time. Given his personal hobby that involves keeping extensive files on murderers, Mr Jelly's daughters are convinced that his job must be something to be ashamed of. Bony promises Mr Jelly's daughters that he will find out what their father does during his absences.This novel is filled with Upfield's own philosophy about what creates murderers. We also find out a lot about aboriginal tracking methods, as well as more information about Bony's family background.
Show Less
LibraryThing member leslie.98
2020 reread:
Some aspects of this mystery I either figured out or (more likely) subconsciously remembered. Not my favorite book in the Napoleon Bonaparte series but the reader does get to know a little more about Bony's personal life in this one.
Some aspects of this mystery I either figured out or (more likely) subconsciously remembered. Not my favorite book in the Napoleon Bonaparte series but the reader does get to know a little more about Bony's personal life in this one.
LibraryThing member rosalita
Book #4 in the Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte series finds Bony in Western Australia for a change, working undercover to investigate the disappearance of a local farmer. There's no evidence of foul play, but Bony's instincts tell him it was murder and he sets out to prove there was a crime, to begin
Highlights in this one were the key role played by Australia's famed "rabbit-proof fence" and the twist ending that I at least did not see coming but found supremely satisfying in tying up a number of loose ends. Overall, a fine outing for our favorite half-caste detective.
Show More
with, and then to find the culprit. Along the way, he takes on the puzzle of figuring out where another local farmer, Mr Jelly, goes when he disappears periodically, leaving his young daughters at home for days or a week at a time. The two cases seem unrelated, but are they?Highlights in this one were the key role played by Australia's famed "rabbit-proof fence" and the twist ending that I at least did not see coming but found supremely satisfying in tying up a number of loose ends. Overall, a fine outing for our favorite half-caste detective.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1937
Physical description
298 p.; 18 cm
ISBN
0684178877 / 9780684178875
Other editions
Murder Down Under by Arthur W. Upfield (Hardcover)