Status Updates From Death of a Swagman (Inspect...

In this deeply cynical age, it's hard for fiction depicting a middle-aged man making friends with an eight-year-old girl to hit the sweet note originally intended, but this works. That's a time-travelling credit to Upfield.

This is a very different kind of golden age mystery novel. Set in the Australian outback, it leans quite heavily into racial stereotypes and bush lore. The detective, Napoleon Bonaparte, is fascinating but is as much a literary construction as Holmes.

I like the humour and the details of life in a very small town. I'm still making my mind up about the storytelling pace.