Winds of Evil

I've read hundreds of cozy murder mysteries and this one is in the top five percent of them all. A strangler is plaguing an Australian outback village and half-aborigine Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is sent in to solve the case and to catch the murderer. "Boney," as he is called by his numerous friends, is an expert Bushman and an articulate detective and prospective readers should not be put off either by the author's gimmicky approach to his protagonist or by the location -- this is top reading material for fans of Christie, Doyle, Tey, Rinehart, and so on. The author, Arthur Upfield, was born in England but spent practically his entire life in Australia. He was a superb dialogue writer and the ambiance that he generates is terrific in all his many mysteries. This one, written in 1937, is one of his very best, right up there with Murder Down Under. Due to the period in which it was written, there is some racially insensitive language here such as we expect to find in the works of Christie and others of the period. But if this isn't an issue for you I can highly recommend this most excellent murder mystery.

The Winds of Evil is Arthur Upfield at his best. We have Detective-Inspector Napolean Bonaparte using his bush skills and his brain. We have a plot where it isn't obvious "whodunnit". And we have the benefit of Upfield's gift for describing the town, the surroundings, and the winds of evil themselves, as evidenced in the opening pages. This is definitely my favourite so far of all of the Arthur Upfield books that I've read.