Madman's Bend.

ARTHUR W. UPFIELD

Publication: Heinemann, 1963, London

First U.K. edition. Light foxing to the fore-edges and to a few front and rear end pages, else very good in price-clipped dust jacket. Published in the U.S. using the title MURDER AT MADMAN'S BEND. One of Inspector Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte's toughest mysteries. William Lush is a drunk and wife-beater, and having savagely assaulted his wife he drives from his sheep station to the nearby town for a bender. On his return he runs out of petrol on the main road, and walks to his farmhouse to get more. But the farm has been locked against him by his stepdaughter Jill Madden, who puts a rifle bullet through the door when Lush tries to break in with an axe. Lush disappears, and is never seen alive again. Soon afterwards his wife dies of her injuries, and the police get involved. Are they looking for a murderer or a victim? Is Lush dead, or just holed up somewhere with a case of whiskey?

Inventory Number: 33714