“U” is for Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield

 
"U” is for Death of a Swagman by Arthur Upfield (1945) – For the letter “U” in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme being hosted by Kerrie Smith at her fine blog, Mysteries in Paradise, I am posting a review of a Napoleon “Bony” Bonaparte mystery by the Australian author, Arthur Upfield.

It is another Bony mystery set in the vicinity of a prominent Australian geographic feature. Death of a Swagman takes place in and around the Walls of China in the southwest corner of New South Wales. On the opening page Upfield describes the area: 

The colour of the country is reddish-brown, and upon this reddish-brown land the soft fingers of the wind built a wall of snow-white sand some twelve miles long, three quarters of a mile wide, and several hundred feet high.

In The Will of the Tribe the Wolf Creek Meteorite Crater in Northwest Australia had been featured in the book. 

Bony arrives at the small town of Merino some six weeks after the

death of swagman, George Kendall, at a hut adjacent to the Walls of China. Where modern crime fiction perpetually emphasizes the importance of the first 24 to 48 hours after murder in conducting the investigation Bony is unperturbed about arriving weeks later. 

For this investigation he chooses to slip into town as a stockman, with the name of Robert Burns, looking for work. Only after being arrested as a vagrant does he reveal his official status to Sgt. Richard Marshall of the local police detachment. Bony consents to a sentence of 10 days in the local jail during which time he will paint the police compound fence, whitewash the cells and have the chance to talk to the residents as a casual stranger rather than a police inspector.

There are interesting local characters led by Mr. Jason, a former Shakespearean actor, who owns the garage. Merino is so small he is also the Justice of the Peace dispensing justice, the town undertaker carrying the deceased to the cemetery in a spectacular hearse and presiding over the coroner’s inquest. 

Among the touches that mark the book as set almost 70 years ago is the role of tobacco. Almost everyone smokes. Bony does a lot of thinking while rolling his own humpbacked cigarettes. The community times how long it will take Mr. Jason to exhale great draughts of pipe smoke. 

The ever shifting sands of the Walls of China are at the heart of the detection of the book. Bony’s skills as a tracker are evident throughout the story. It is a physical art lost to all but a few current detectives. My next post will compare the trackers of the past and the present. 

What modern detective could discern that faint straight lines in sand showed a clever killer was covering his tracks by using a flail for the wind creates curved lines in the sand. Only man produces straight lines. 

There is also a fascinating explanation of the use of noughts and crosses or X’s and O’s to provide information. 

Bony is always professional in his investigations. He sets out the problem with emotional involvement by the police:

Many young detectives, and older ones too, are too liable to the emotion of indignation because of a brutal killing. They accept such a crime as a personal matter and so permit their judgment to be clouded by animosity towards the killer.  

Would that the fictional police of today avoid the righteous indignation that fuels so many of them? 

The book differs from earlier Bony mysteries I have read in having a strong child character. Little Rose Marie is a spirited and clever girl. 

The strength of the book is in the investigation. Unlike The Bone is Pointed or The Will of the Tribe or The Bushman Who Came Back it does not venture into the relations between white and aboriginal Australians. As always there are some passages that will make a contemporary reader cringe but I accept them as a reflection of that era. 

While the solution ventured into the bizarre I enjoyed the book. I find Bony a remarkable character.

 

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My earlier posts on Arthur Upfield and his books are:

Upfield, Arthur - (2011) - Cake in the Hat Box; (2011) - The Widows of Broome (2011) - "U" is for Arthur Upfield; (2011) - The Bushman Who Came Back; (2012) - The Will of the Tribe; (2012) - The Battling Prophet; (2012) - "U" is for Arthur W. Upfield; (2013) - The Bone is Pointed; (2013) - Q & A with Stan Jones on Nathan Active and Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte - Part I and Part II

 

My First 500 Posts!

With my last post about the National Historic Site of Batoche and its connection to The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault being my 500^th post I have been reflecting on the 500 posts and being a blogger.

I had wanted to create a place on the worldwide web where readers of mysteries could have information on mysteries set in the province of Saskatchewan and the authors of those mysteries.

I am glad to have posted reviews of 28 mysteries set in Saskatchewan and will shortly be filling in a gap with a review of A Political Addiction as part of my post for “W” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet meme.

Saskatchewan authors, Anthony Bidulka and Gail Bowen, have generously responded to questions which have made for interesting Q and A posts.

I created a page for the Rest of Canada which, together with my participation in the Canadian Book Challenge for the last 2 years, has broadened my reading of Canadian mysteries. I have now committed myself to reading at least 13 books by Canadian authors each year.

I doubt I would have had the pleasure of reading L.R. Wright had I not started blogging and been looking for Canadian mysteries.

As a lawyer whose practice includes a substantial amount of criminal and civil litigation I enjoy reading legal mysteries. I have not come across another blogger who puts together a list of legal mysteries. I think there are more good legal mysteries being published now than ever.

The introduction of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction has added to my focus on legal mysteries. I will shortly be reading Havana Requiem by Paul Goldstein which was the 2013 Prize Winner.

I set up a page in which I discuss mystery bookstores I have visited. I have been alittle disappointed that the page is not often visited. I fear the lack of page views is an illustration of the decline in bookstores.

While my focus is on mysteries I continue to read non-fiction and put up reviews of those books. I find I need some non-fiction amidst the crime fiction to maintain my reading interest in mysteries.

I have chosen but one book reading challenge, the Canadian Book Challenge, each year as I feel I would be too restricted in my reading if I was taking part in multiple challenges.

I have enjoyed the memes hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. She is an amazing blogger. Taking part in the Crime Fiction Alphabet memes has been great fun. For last year and this year I adopted themes. Last year each letter was a post of an author I had read. This year I am putting up a post about a book or an author or a crime topic with which I have a personal connection. I admit the letter “X” which is looming is proving a challenge. I do not seem to have many connections with “X”.

The most unexpected joy has been meeting virtually fellow bloggers from around the world. I never expected to make new friends through blogging. I am always impressed by the depth of knowledge and kindness of the bloggers and readers I have met through the web.

An unexpected bonus has been making comments on other blogs and getting comments on my blog. The indefatigable Margot Kinberg of Confessions of a Mystery Novelist has been a welcome and constant commenter. I am amazed how many places she travels to in the world of blogging while maintaining her superb daily posts.

I have found I neither have the energy nor inclination to put up daily posts. I admire those bloggers who have that dedication. If I can average 3 posts a week I am content.

The post which has garnered the most page views is “N” is for Stuart Neville. The image of “N” I borrowed from Kerrie’s blog somehow ended up on Google images for “N”. Blogger tells me there have been 17,354 page views of the post and counting. One of the ironies of the world of blogging is that my most popular post has nothing to do with the content of the post.

I started blogging as I wanted to talk about books. The first 500 posts have been fun. I look forward to more blogging adventures.

Batoche and The Third Riel Conspiracy

I think it is fitting that my 500th post on this blog is about Saskatchewan. Batoche is my favourite historic place in Saskatchewan.

The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault, which I reviewed in my last post, is focused on the major battle of the Riel Rebellion at Batoche in 1885. Batoche was at the heart of the Metis community in the Northwest Territories of that time. (In 1905 the province of Saskatchewan was created out of territory that included Batoche.)

The Metis settlement around Batoche had grown up in the 1860’s and 1870’s. The settlers created long narrow farms moving away from the Saskatchewan River in the style of early Quebec farms. The Metis of that era were great hunters and annually went south for buffalo until the buffalo were almost exterminated.

The Metis people were the descendants of intermarriage between French fur traders and the Indian inhabitants of the prairies.

A variety of grievances, including the fear their farms would not be recognized by the Government of Canada because they did not conform with the grid being surveyed, caused the Metis, led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont to rise in revolt.

The Rebellion did not last long mainly because the Metis political leader, Riel, would not allow their military leader, Dumont, to fight when and how Dumont wanted to take on Canada.

The founder of Melfort, Reginald Beatty, had just homesteaded in 1884 in the area that would become Melfort. During the Rebellion he was a scout for the Canadian forces and a negotiator persuading Indian communities not to join in the Rebellion.

The Third Riel Conspiracy is excellent at describing Batoche and the surrounding area. It is a beautiful spot on a bend in the South Saskatchewan River.

The site is almost unchanged in the past 128 years. There is no development around the site. To travel there is to go back in time.

The church and rectory have remained intact with some bullet holes in the rectory to mark its role in the battle.

The photograph above shows the view from the cemetery on the riverbank looking towards the church and rectory.

I first visited the site 45 years ago. My father had a keen interest in 

An aerial view showing the Saskatchewan River in the background

Western Canadian history and knew men who had participated in the Rebellion.

Over the years I have made many visits to Batoche with my family and visitors to our area. Each visitor has said going to Batoche made history come alive for them.

In 1985 my Dad and I attended the centennial celebration of the battle. At the official event the Red Cross donated the flag flown by that organization during the battle. It was the first time the Red Cross had raised their iconic flag on a battleground.

I am glad that Legault set his second book in the Durrant Wallace series at Batoche. Every NWMP of that time had some participation in the Rebellion.

For any reader crossing central Saskatchewan in the summer a trip to the National Historic Site of Batoche will be a worthwhile stop.

While a place of battle and death it is now a serene site. I feel a sense of peace whenever I visit Batoche.

"T" is for The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault

The Third Riel Conspiracy by Stephen Legault - It is 1885 in Western Canada when the Riel Rebellion, equally referred to as the Northwest Rebellion is under way in the heart of what is now Saskatchewan and then was part of the Northwest Territories.

The Third Riel Conspiracy is my entry for "T" in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise.

NWMP (Northwest Mounted Police which is the original name of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Sargeant, Durrant Wallace, is on duty in Calgary.

He has just returned to duty after losing part of a leg and having a hand severely injured.

 Despite his physical restrictions Durrant is eager to participate in the Rebellion and feels stuck in Calgary, a boomtown of tents and new buildings, growing rapidly on the prairie. When the forces advancing on Batoche, the small community on the South Saskatchewan River at the centre of the Rebellion, are ambushed his superior sends Durrant a wire to come to help the Canadian forces.

The headstrong Durrant ignores a further wire saying he need not leave Calgary.

By the time he arrives at Batoche the final battle is over and the Metis forces have been routed. In the midst of that battle a Regina teamster, Reuben Wake, has been murdered in the zareba where the Canadian forces are camped. 

A captured Metis fighter, Terrence La Biche, has been arrested for the murder. He had in his coat pocket the Colt revolver used to shoot Wake.
 While Sub-inspector Dickenson is content to close the investigation Durrant finds the accusation implausible and starts an investigation. 

Thought it is a time when forensic science is very limited and there is not a lab in the territory Durrant applies the science of the day to the investigation.

Mainly he explores the lives of those involved and, in so doing, sets out the history of Western Canada that led up to the Rebellion. In my next post I will go into some of the history and my personal connections with Batoche. For those readers unacquainted with Canada it will provide a basic understanding of our past.

What is striking is how the investigation takes Durrant over a significant part of what is now Saskatchewan, eastern Alberta and northern Montana.

Participating with him is a young woman, Charlene Louise Mason, separated from an abusive husband. Their relationship feels more modern than late 19th Century.

The conspiracies are more plausible than the usual fictional conspiracies.

It is an interesting book. I liked the plot which deals with a time and place with which I am very familiar. The mystery is capably set up. At the same time the dialogue did not capture me. There was too much of the characters' personality and appearance in their actions and role in the plot. Wake is such a dark character it is hard to imagine how he could have survived in the real world. I wanted the book to be better because of its subject and location. In the end, I found it an average book. It is worth reading. I intend to read another Wallace mystery to see if the other book in the series is beyond average.

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My connection with the book comes from its location in Batoche which is about 120 km from Melfort and is my favourite historic spot in Saskatchewan.

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The Third Riel Conspiracy is the 2nd book of 13 I have read in the 7th Canadian Book Challenge hosted by John Mutford at the Book Mine Set blog.

Government Powers in Our Times and The Kill Room

Jeffery Deaver in The Kill Room goes into major contemporary issues that are not often dealt with in crime or thriller fiction.

This post does not directly involve spoilers but it does have more information about the books discussed than some readers may want to know about the books.

As set out in my review the criminal investigation involves the death of an expatriate American, Roberto Moreno, who is executed in a hotel room in the Bahamas by an American intelligence services drone airplane. What is the authority of the United States to kill its citizens or non-citizens without due process of law?

In an age where threats of terrorism and actual acts of terrorism occur what rights do governments have to pre-emptively kill those they believe will harm their citizens?

In Fool’s Republic by Gordon W. Dale which I reviewed 2 years ago the protagonist, Simon Wyley “has been cast into one of America’s new secret prisons where those persons, the authorities fear threaten her security, are held captive without rights”. Interrogators seek to break Wyley to get the information they want from him.

In my review I discussed the dangers of abandoning the Rule of Law:

Recently I was in Germany where I spoke with a German lawyer about the Nazi takeover of his country. The Rule of Law was thrown aside when the Nazis perverted the German judicial system. He expressed unease over the development of secret courts in the United States. I stated it was America’s public courts that restrained the legal excesses of the internal War on Terror. He remained concerned for America’s future when confidential charges and proceedings become part of the judicial system.

A year earlier I had reviewed Crossing Hitler by Benjamin Carter Hett. The book discussed the actions of a courageous German lawyer:

Hans Litten was a radical Berlin defence lawyer in 1932, acting as a private prosecutor with the public prosecutor, helping prosecutor SA storm troopers charged with attacking Communists partying at the Eden Dance Palace. Litten convinced the Court to summon Adolph Hitler to testify about the SA. Litten carefully crafted questions that challenged Hitler to reconcile the Nazi Party’s public proclamations of pursuing power only by legal means with the SA taking violent actions in the streets of Germany. Litten’s probing questions provoke Hitler into a profound rage.

When Hitler gained power he immediately imprisoned Litten who eventually committed suicide in prison.

In The Kill Room the good guys and the bad guys, with blurring on both sides as to character, use modern data mining techniques of the American Federal Government, often with no official authorization.

A vast increase in the power of police and intelligence agencies to investigate and surveil American citizens and non-citizens has taken place since the terrible events of 9/11. In the years after 2001 crime fiction dealt with these new powers.

Lost Light by Michael Connelly in 2003 was the first book I read involving these issues. Harry Bosch, in the interval when he is retired from the LAPD, finds out during a murder investigation how much power has been assumed by the anti-terrorism units of the FBI.

A year later, V.I. Warshawski, in Blacklist by Sara Paretsky explores issues involving the treatment of American Arabs and goes back 50 years to the McCarthy hearings on Un-American Activities.

Outside North America John Le Carre has dealt with the new world of intelligence in such books as Mission Song. In that book Congolese interpreter Salvo learns of the duplicitious nature of the English and other Western intelligence agencies while translating secret recordings of private conversations.

While this post reflects my concern with the actions of intelligence agencies apparently beyond the supervision of legislative bodies and courts I recognize that in an age of terror governments must have swift means to prevent and react to terror. Having been a criminal defence counsel and a lawyer for plaintiffs taking on big government and large corporations I am uneasy about abuses of the power entrusted to the intelligence services of our times.

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver – Lincoln Rhyme is adjusting to the physical freedom gained from an operation to his right arm which has restored some feeling and the ability to use the hand and arm. Deaver examines the impact of modern medicine partially reversing the effects of crippling injuries. What happens to someone physically and emotionally who has regained physical abilities thought permanently lost?

More mobile, but still as irascible as ever, Rhyme is sought out by Assistant D.A., Nance Laurel, to assist in the investigation of the killing of an anti-American activist, Robert Moreno, in the Bahamas.

He has been killed by a sniper bullet that smashed the window of his hotel room. Two other men in the room bled to death from the shards of glass blown about the room as the powerful bullet shattered the window.

Ordinarily a murder in another country would not be the subject of a New York state prosecutor. Moreno’s death has been Laurel’s interest because of a whistleblower email that a secretive American intelligence agency, the National Intelligence and Operations Service (NIOS), using flawed information has killed Moreno. The State of New York is pursuing the killer because Moreno, despite his anti-American rants, was an American citizen. Nance has been assigned to build the case for a conspiracy to murder charge.

If she can establish the killing was outside the authority given to NIOS the State of New York will charge those responsible. Killing an American can cause prosecution. Killing a non-citizen is not an issue for a state court.

Deaver thus delves into the murky legal and moral right of America to kill those it considers its enemy wherever they are located in the world. It was timely reading the book as an American drone aircraft was reported to have killed two people in Yemen as I finished reading the book.

Where earlier books in the series were fascinating assemblies of forensic evidence to solve crimes The Kill Room examines an important current legal issue.

While the New York City police department and the District Attorney’s office seek to maintain secrecy through running the case out of Rhyme’s home NIOS almost instantly knows of the investigation.

Both the police/D.A. and NIOS use unauthorized datamining to find information. Deaver is touching upon another thorny American issue, the right of governments to spy upon their people without the checks of statute and public court consents. Deaver makes it clear that the security and proper use of vast American tapping of phone and other electronic communication is dependent on the integrity of those conducting the surveillance.

Rhyme is hampered as the crime scene is thousands of kilometers away and the Royal Bahamian Police are unenthusiastic about sharing information concerning a killing they consider the work of Venezuelan drug cartels.

In New York City Amelia Sachs is diligently aiding Rhyme though the effects of osteoarthritis are becoming more severe. She can no longer walk without pain.

As she starts to search out information concerning Moreno’s recent trip to New York City there is a chilling development. Someone is trying to remove all evidence and witnesses that might lead to the killer.

Can it be that a federal American agency is willing to kill American citizens so that its actions in protecting America’s security can be concealed?

Where the initial forensic evidence is limited it builds during the book to the extent, as usual in this series, that it is hard to analyze all of the facts. Deaver is among the world’s most gifted authors at giving the facts that will lead to conclusions but I rarely make the correct deductions from his facts.

Deaver does not take one-sided view on the extra-judicial killing by the United States government. It is among his most challenging books. Deaver a grandmaster of deception and layered plots. As common with his books there were unnecessary extra twists near the end. It is a mystery that compels the reader to think. (Aug. 10/13)

Connections and Issues with The Taking of Libbie, SD

On Sunday I put up a review of The Taking of Libbie, SD  by David Housewright as my post for the letter “S” in the Crime Fiction Alphabet being hosted by Kerrie Smith at her fine blog, Mysteries in Paradise.  It is a good book. At the end of my review I indicated in my next post I was going to outline my South Dakota connection and discuss a couple of issues concerning the book not related to the plot.

I have a personal connection to the setting of the book. Not only did my grandfather homestead in South Dakota a century ago the community at which he homesteaded, Clark, has numerous similarities to the fictional Libbie.

It is also a town of just over 1,000 people in a farm based area. It is the county seat. It has a high school and a nursing home.

While Clark is located in a different part of the state and I doubt they consider themselves in the type of decline as Libbie was portrayed I kept thinking of Clark as I read the book.

I also have not heard in real life Clark of comparable stories to the busy sexual lives of the fictional Libbie residents.

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It was a book for which I had no knowledge when I opened the covers. I bought it at the Once Upon a Crime bookstore in Minneapolis in January when I was looking ahead for books for the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at Mysteries in Paradise. It has been some time since I read Tin City by Housewright and when I saw The Taking of Libbie, SD I knew I had my “S”.

Generally I know something of the plot to determine if I want to read the book. For The Taking of Libbie, SD I knew no more than than I had read a book earlier in the series. 

With nothing but the title to guide me my mind tried to anticipate the plot. It seems impossible to keep a completely open mind until a book is read. For no specific reason I expected the “taking” to refer to a form of attack upon the community instead of the “taking” referring to a fraud perpetuated on the town. 

How easy it is to mislead yourself!

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The one issue unrelated to the plot that upset me is the cover. The photo of the big city has absolutely nothing to do with the story and is blatantly misleading. The fictional Libbie is a small town of 1,200 people whose whole population might occupy one of the skyscrapers shown on the cover. The story spends but minutes in the opening pages in Minneapolis and little more later in the book. Had they shown the beautiful sunset sky alone it would at least have had a connection. When I started the book I thought it would involve a large fictional South Dakota city such as Rapid City (about 70,000 people) or Sioux Falls (225,000 in the metro area). I have no idea why the publisher chose a cover that deceives readers. (I show the cover again to illustrate the deception.)

“S” is for The Taking of Libbie, SD by David Housewright

“S” is for The Taking of Libbie, SD by David Housewright – The book gets off to a rousing start when retired Minneapolis police officer, Rushmore McKenzie, is snatched from his home and thrown into the trunk of a car and driven for 6 hours to the small town of Libbie, South Dakota. Roughed up in the local police station he learns the mayor has hired bounty hunters to bring him from Minnesota because he has defrauded the town of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is hard to take a breath reading the opening chapter.

Once in Libbie the authorities realize he is not the Rushton McKenzie who has swindled them. He does not look like the crook. A few questions and it is clear that they have the wrong man.

McKenzie learns that the fraudster has stolen his identity to set up a new Rushton McKenzie in South Dakota. Cleverly the crook has not used any of McKenzie’s credit cards or accounts. He is using the stolen identity to cheat the town not McKenzie.

Desperate to make amends lovely town councillor, Tracie Blake, sweeps into his cell to offer an apology to McKenzie who is justifiably furious over his treatment.

He learns the fake McKenzie has enticed investment in a regional mall to be located on the edge of town. She further asks him to track down the imposter for the town administration and many citizens who are facing financial disaster if the money is lost.

While he does not forgive McKenzie finds himself fascinated with the fraud scheme and returns to Libbie to solve the mystery.

The South Dakota town is a central character in the mystery. As with most real life towns in rural Saskatchewan there has been a declining population in Libbie recent decades that diminishes the well being of the community and forecasts a doubtful future.

The people of Libbie want to save their town and are ready to listen to a smooth talking stranger on the prosperity to follow the development of a mall.

Trevor Herriot, in his book River in a Dry Land, sets out the rise and painful decline of the real life town of Tantallon in southeastern Saskatchewan. It is a story that could be written about hundreds of communities on the Great Plains of Canada and the United States.

While Housewright effectively describes Libbie and the readiness, even eagerness, of some to get out of town he does not do as well at capturing the spirit and joy of living in a town where everyone knows you. I believe the townspeople are less greedy than desperate for trusting and investing with the imposter.

 

Within Libbie McKenzie is struck by the number of beautiful women in the town. Temptation is present as he works to solve the mystery.

I would not say it is a great book. There are some implausible developments near the end. I consider it a very good book. I liked it better than Tin City.

 

This review is my entry for "S" in the Alphabet in Crime Fiction meme hosted by Kerrie Smith at her blog, Mysteries in Paradise. In my next post I will discuss my connection with the book and a couple of aspects of the book. (July 21/13)