Classic Aussie Crime – Arthur Upfield
If you’ve ever travelled or lived in the real Australian outback you will really enjoy Arthur Upfield’s depictions of the landscape and its climate, as well as his descriptions of the characters and language of the era. It’s a real slice of our history in a crime novel format.
Upfield created Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (Bony) from the Queensland Police. He was in 29 novels, mostly set in the Australian outback. The books were turned into a popular television series in the 1970′s.
You may have seen the ABC drama recently called 3 Acts of Murder, based on a true crime story. Arthur Upfield had written a book called The sands of Windee, that was used as inspiration for a real life murder.
There are plenty of websites where you can find out more about him. Here’s just one.
http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/upfield.html
Magda
This book is for sale at JimmyDs Bookshop for $10.00.
Filed under Awesome Aussie Authors, Cool Crime Writers | Tags: 3 Acts of Murder, Arther Upfield, Aussie Crime, Australian Crime, Bony, Classic Crime, Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, outback crime, The sands of Windee | Comment (1)Tim Winton – The Turning (by L’Yan)
Have you read any Tim Winton? You will either love him or hate him. I can’t get enough of him. Stay tuned for many more mentions of his name from me!
Do you ever fall in love with a character and then be devastated when their story is over? This is what I love about Tim Winton: his characters make appearances throughout a number of stories. You then find amazing, complicated relationships between them all as they appear in each other’s histories. I love to find out more about his characters, as they have begun to feel like old friends! ‘The Turning’ is my favourite of his books, as it is a collection of short stories featuring my old friends from his previous (and later) work.
I was somewhat disappointed with his new ‘Breath’ (even though it won the Miles Franklin – congratulations Timmy on your fourth by the way). It seemed to lack… something. I don’t know if it was the characters or the plot or what, I will have to read it again. I just remember being disappointed, since I went and bought it and read it the day it was released. Yes, I am that obsessed. I think because I love his short stories so much I use them as a yardstick, even though I know the genres are very different. ‘The Turning’, for me, perfects (hyperbole) the short story collection, as the stories are all related, whether through common place, character or event, so you never get the feeling of disconnectedness that random collections can leave you with. ‘Breath’ feels a bit like a short story that got longer and longer and longer like it lost its way. Well, it winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award gives me an excuse to read it again.
Not that I need an excuse to read Tim Winton. Ever.
L’Yan
Filed under Awesome Aussie Authors | Tags: Book Reviews, The Turning, Tim Winton | Comment (0)