The Barrakee Mystery

By: Arthur W. Upfield

Narrated by: Peter Hosking

Why was the redoubtable King Henry, an aborigine from Western Australia, killed during a thunderstorm in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? And who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent? This first story of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the half-aborigine detective, takes him to a sheep station in the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well ‒ mixed blood and divided loyalties. PLEASE NOTE: Part of the appeal of Arthur Upfield’s stories lies in their authentic portrayal of many aspects of outback Australian life in the 1930s and through into the 1950s. These books reflect and depict the attitudes and ways of speech of that era particularly with regard to Aborigines and to women. In reproducing this book the publisher does not endorse the attitudes or opinions they express.©1929 First published by Hutchinson and Company Ltd. Bonaparte Holdings Pty Ltd, 1965 (P)2014 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"Napoleon Bonaparte, my best detective." ( The Daily Express)

Wonderful painted picture

Arthur upfield is a wonderful author who can paint a wonderful picture with words. He is not shackled by the main story line but describes the environment and lives of those in the story. Once you get past the old-time attitudes, and out of date use of descriptive words linked to Australian first people, it's a great story. Don't let words of the past worry you.

First far from best

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Enjoyed the book, but I was disappointed that the key character took such a small part in it. The book centers much more on the squatter's family and affairs than with the mystery. There isn't much mystery at that.

Have you listened to any of Peter Hosking’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I love Peter Hosking's readings.

Fascinating look into other cultures

I appreciate the disclaimers about language and attitudes about race and gender roles while taking in a rich story of life in a world where these attitudes govern the behaviour of the participants.

First in Excellent Series

Narration: Perfect, clear, interesting, authentic Aussie inflection.

Story: Excellent foundation for excellent series. Written in 1928 or earlier, dialogue is replete with sexist and racist language and ideas, but dealt with in an historically accurate manner, actually sympathetic to Aboriginees--as compared with American sentiment at the time--, and which does not detract from complex story raising questions about ethnicity, race, and gender relations.
I do not encourage listening to this audio before others in the series, as the racism may put off the listener from enjoying subsequent compelling, much less objectionable audiobooks.

An age past

This is an interesting book. The old beliefs about race are very clear and distressing but there is no hatred involved. I think people these days don’t understand that. People sincerely believed things that we now know are wrong but without the hatred we see today. I believe that should be recognized.

Story from another time....

I'd read other books from Arthur Upfield with Bony, the detective, and I hesitated before buying an Audble version until I saw who was reading/performing the story. I love Peter Hosking and was not disappointed. The stories are from a time when Australia was truly a wild frontier and the half-aboriginal detective is such an unusual character. The later stories keep giving more details of his skills and eccentricities. I can't wait for my next purchase. Truly stories you sit in the car listening for an acceptable point to turn off the story.....

a great series!

I came across this series several years ago and have red and listened to almost all the books. it is a series that I keep safe in my paperback collection. I am slowly purchasing the Kindle versions.

I am so glad I have found this series

Excellent book. I heard about this series in another book I was listening to called bodies in the library volume 1. This is one of the best crime novels I have read in a long time. The story was so detailed that you felt you were there. The narrator was excellent with all the characters voices. Great read! Read it!

Start with The Sands of Windee

The Napoleon Bonaparte mysteries are a hidden gem, particularly the first dozen or so. Per advice from other reviewers, I started the series with book #2, The Sands of Windee. Came back much later to The Barrakee Mystery, and while it is entertaining, and in parts compelling, Bony plays a minor tile in the story. Come back to it later as I did if you care to, but jump into the series at book 2 where the story centers on Bony and Aboriginal culture as the primary focus.

Don't judge Bony by this first book!

The "Bony" novels have two principal characters. The first is Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (aka "Bony"), the brilliant half-Aboriginal detective who is equally at home discussing philosophy or reading the "book of the bush" while tracking a killer through the harsh outback.
The second is the character of rural Australia. British author Arthur Upfield, spending many years in Australia, set out to dramatize the country and its unique characters and characteristics for readers around the world.
In most of his novels, (and I've read or listened to virtually all of them,) Bony occupies center stage, and this fascinating character, who inspired Tony Hillerman and other later mystery writers, is, like most great serial fictional detectives, both interesting and enjoyable to spend time with. The characteristics of rural Australia are always displayed well, also, and give non-Australians a wonderful picture of life there in the early to mid 20th century.
In this first novel, though, Upfield spends way too much time on local color, so even a died-in-the-wool fan like me might need to speed up the audio book to 1.5X to get through long descriptive passages.
So, as my headline said, don't judge the whole series by this book. If you get bored, just go on to book two...you have a long and wonderful series of stories ahead of you, and, in Peter Hosking, you have a fantastic narrator to guide you along.
Also, this is a series in which it is not hugely important to listen to the stories in the order in which they were published. While there are occasional references to earlier tales, they don't really infringe or spoil on the tale at hand.
So say "D'dye" to Bony, and start on a long and wonderful series of adventures!