This Bony story is more of a pyschological thriller than the usual fantastic bushcraft. Venom House is the moated stone house of the Answerths, set in the 50's before electricity came to this small town in Queensland. Mary Answerth, the rawboned tough as bootleather oldest sibling, in charge of the men and the beasts of the cattle station; Janet, the supposed civilised philantrophist, bad painter, reader of poetry in charge of the house and the youngest, Morris, the 27yr old mentally challenged half brother, perpetually locked in his rooms; Mrs Lepper, the housekeeper come mental institution Matron, there to save money to buy her own asylum.Bony arrives to investigate the murder of the second Mrs Answerth and a prior murder of a man from town, both found in Answerth's Folly (the moat).The chase all around the 2 storey house, with 2 staircases, in the dark at the end is an absolute classic, ending with a further murder.
