Arthur Upfield Books In Order

Publication Order of Inspector Bonaparte Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Arthur Upfield was a prominent author of half English and half Australian descent. He was born as Arthur William Upfield on September 01, 1890, and died on February 12, 1964. He is best remembered for his exciting works based on the detective fiction genre. The most famous book series written by author Upfield was titled as DI Napoleon Bonaparte series. This series features an Australian police officer named Napoleon Bonaparte from the Police Force of Queensland. He has been described by author Upfield in the series as a half caste Aborigine. The books written by author Upfield were used as the basis for the development of the successful Australian television detective series named ‘Boney’ during the 1970s, and a 1990 film and a television spin-off series in the year 1992. Author Upfield’s birth took place in Hampshire and then he immigrated to Australia in the year 1911, where he was a part of the military forces of Australia, fighting in 1st World War. After his military service got over at the end of the War, he traveled to a number of places throughout Australia. By doing so, he got acquainted with the culture of the Australian Aborigine.

With the help of the huge knowledge that he collected about the culture, author Upfield began writing his books later. Apart from being a writer of the detective fiction novels, author Upfield was also a part of the Geological Society of Australia. Because of this, he was involved in a number of scientific expeditions throughout his life and career. In one of his popular novels titled ‘The Sands of Windee’, which was based upon the story of a perfect murder, author Upfield gave the description of a perfect method to destroy all the evidences carefully after completion of the crime. Eventually, the method was used a person in an actual murder case popularly known as the ‘Murchison Murders’. As the murderer had used the Windee method described by author Upfield for destroying the evidences, he was called into court for giving evidence. The birth of author Upfield took place in a small town in England and his father used to be a draper. At the beginning of the 20th century, he tried to become an agent of real estate, but performed very poorly in the examination. Therefore, his father asked him to move to Australia for finding some work to do, on his own. When author Upfield reached there, it was the time of the outbreak of the 1st World War. He thought of joining the First Imperial Force of the Australian Military and consequently sailed to Melbourne from Brisbane. At that time, he sailed with the rank of a Driver. Later, he sailed to Egypt, before staying for a few weeks in a Melbourne camp. Author Upfield got the first chance to fight at Gallipoli and then in France. During the same time, he married a nurse from Australia named Ann Douglass in the year 1915 in Egypt.

In the year 1919, author Upfield was discharged from his military duty as the World War I had ended. Before coming back to Australia with his wife, Upfield got blessed with a son named James Upfield. He was his only son as he did not have any child after him. When author Upfield began his writing career, he tried his hand at writing detective fiction books. Consequently, he went on to develop Bonaparte’s character. According to him, this character based on a man named Tracker Leon, who he had come across during his travels. Author Upfield has said that Leon was a half caste as he was half Aboriginal and half White, and used to work as a tracker in the Police Force of Queensland. He even said that Leon had read Napolean’s biography and the Shakespearean literature, as well as had a university education in his name. However, no record of such a person was ever found. During the later parts of his life, author Upfield went on to become a member of Australia’s Geological Society, that was mainly involved in the expeditions. In 1948, Upfield was involved in one of the major expeditions to the western and northern parts of Australia. This expedition also involved Wolfe Crater, which was later used by author Upfield for developing the plot of one of his novels titled ‘The Will of the Tribe’, which was released in the year 1962.

Throughout the course of his life, author Upfield has lived in a number of places, including New South Wales, Bermagui, etc. He breathed his last on February 12, 1962, at Bowral. The last work on which author Upfield was working on was completed by Dorothy Stange and Price and was published in the year 1966 under the title ‘The Lake Frome Monster’. In the year 1957, a biography based on the life of author Upfield named ‘Follow My Dust!’ was published b Jessica Hawke, who was his defacto. However, it is generally believed that the biography was written by author Upfield himself. Between the years 1972 and 1973, a television series based on DI Napoleon Bonaparte series written by author Upfield was produced by the Fauna Productions in the form of 26 episodes. After taking the auditions of numerous half caste actors, English actor named Jon Finch was finally chosen to play the lead role. But, he backed out after the first few scenes were shot and therefore, James Laurenson from New Zealand was selected in his place. James read all the books in the original series and then went on to complete the television series, which was named as ‘Bony’. The series was also developed into a movie in the year 1990 with the same name and late, into a spin-off television series.

One of the initial books written by author Arthur Upfield was titled as ‘The House of Cain’. This novel was published in the year 1928 in London. Over the course of the next few years, the book was released in multiple editions and went on to become a success. This helped author Upfield to work on the next novels of his writing career. One of the other earlier novels written by him was titled as ‘The Barrakee Mystery’. This book was published by the Hutchinson publishers in the year 1929 in London. Just like the debut novel of author Upfield, this novel too became highly successful and helped him to establish himself as a noteworthy author of the mystery and detective fiction genres. The book for which author Arthur Upfield is particularly well-known is ‘The Sands of Windee’, as this book describes the real setting of a murder with a fullproof method of destroying evidence. The method was actually used by criminals to commit murders, due to which author Upfield had to face some difficulties initially.

2 Responses to “Arthur Upfield”

1. Kay: 9 months ago

   re: bonaparte bks
   where two books are listed for one year. Is that two different books or one book with two different titles?

   Reply
   • Graeme: 9 months ago

     If it’s a backslash between the two, it means it’s an alternate title.

     Reply