Another easy reading Boney mystery.Upfield is a complex person when he discusses Aboriginal culture: on one hand he supports the Mission system that was in place in the 1950s (when this was written), and yet, he talks about the golden days before white arrival.Even Boney is not 100% sure of the murderer's identity till the last few pages, so altho you guess, you hit the same conundrum Boney did. The other main story - hence the title - is interesting with current & recent discussions on placing babies to better families from their birth families. It is really hard to determine Upfield's stance, because he is so vague about it. Tiny spoiler: I had to think why Boney was encouraging of Alice taking the baby on the final page, till I reminded it now was an orphan - for all intents and purposes. Women's intuition comes into play in various detection aspects - something that would be considered antiquated nowadays. Thank God! men are more involved with babies & their children.Some parts of Riverina NSW are still the same as when Upfield wrote, other parts have been lost to progress. I could visualise Upfield's Riverina from my travels in the region. I really enjoyed the historical nature of this book, as I have with all of the others that he wrote.I'm not so sure I want our current politicians, who hanker for this Golden Age, to read Upfield - it might reinforce their white male superiority concepts. For the agnostics, I think they would be horrified and stop pushing backward policies.
Four babies are missing in the town of Mitford, New South Wales. The babies were all male, all healthy, under 3 months old, and apparently all neglected or unwanted. The local police have given up. Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is called in after a fifth baby goes missing, and this time, the mother is killed. Of all the cases he's worked, this one has him entering a foreign world of infants. He calls in an assistant on this one, Police Constable Alice McGorr for a little female insight.I really enjoyed this book. It was a treat to see Bony working with a partner. But the domestic side is never allowed to overshadow the mystery. It's not at all warm and fuzzy, just a pleasant change and setting for this book. Highly recommended and worth searching for.CMB
