• The Barrakee Mystery

  • An Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte Mystery, Book 1
  • By: Arthur W. Upfield
  • Narrated by: Peter Hosking
  • Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (140 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
The Barrakee Mystery  By  cover art

The Barrakee Mystery

By: Arthur W. Upfield
Narrated by: Peter Hosking
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.49

Buy for $19.49

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Why was the redoubtable King Henry, an aborigine from Western Australia, killed during a thunderstorm in New South Wales? What was the feud that led to murder after nineteen long years had passed? And who was the woman who saw the murder and kept silent?

This first story of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the half-aborigine detective, takes him to a sheep station in the Darling River bush country where he encounters those problems he understands so well... mixed blood and divided loyalties.

PLEASE NOTE: Part of the appeal of Arthur Upfield's stories lies in their authentic portrayal of many aspects of outback Australian life in the 1930s and through into the 1950s. These books reflect and depict the attitudes and ways of speech of that era particularly with regard to Aborigines and to women. In reproducing this book the publisher does not endorse the attitudes or opinions they express.

©1965 First published 1929 by Hutchinson and Company Ltd. © Bonaparte Holdings Pty Ltd, 1965. (P)2015 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Napoleon Bonaparte, my best detective." ( The Daily Express)

What listeners say about The Barrakee Mystery

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    80
  • 4 Stars
    42
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    105
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    76
  • 4 Stars
    32
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Story from another time....

I'd read other books from Arthur Upfield with Bony, the detective, and I hesitated before buying an Audble version until I saw who was reading/performing the story. I love Peter Hosking and was not disappointed. The stories are from a time when Australia was truly a wild frontier and the half-aboriginal detective is such an unusual character. The later stories keep giving more details of his skills and eccentricities. I can't wait for my next purchase. Truly stories you sit in the car listening for an acceptable point to turn off the story.....

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Don't judge Bony by this first book!

The "Bony" novels have two principal characters. The first is Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte (aka "Bony"), the brilliant half-Aboriginal detective who is equally at home discussing philosophy or reading the "book of the bush" while tracking a killer through the harsh outback.
The second is the character of rural Australia. British author Arthur Upfield, spending many years in Australia, set out to dramatize the country and its unique characters and characteristics for readers around the world.
In most of his novels, (and I've read or listened to virtually all of them,) Bony occupies center stage, and this fascinating character, who inspired Tony Hillerman and other later mystery writers, is, like most great serial fictional detectives, both interesting and enjoyable to spend time with. The characteristics of rural Australia are always displayed well, also, and give non-Australians a wonderful picture of life there in the early to mid 20th century.
In this first novel, though, Upfield spends way too much time on local color, so even a died-in-the-wool fan like me might need to speed up the audio book to 1.5X to get through long descriptive passages.
So, as my headline said, don't judge the whole series by this book. If you get bored, just go on to book two...you have a long and wonderful series of stories ahead of you, and, in Peter Hosking, you have a fantastic narrator to guide you along.
Also, this is a series in which it is not hugely important to listen to the stories in the order in which they were published. While there are occasional references to earlier tales, they don't really infringe or spoil on the tale at hand.
So say "D'dye" to Bony, and start on a long and wonderful series of adventures!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Dated and racist but still poetic.

This book is hard to listen to because it is amazingly racist but yet the descriptions are wonderful and parts of the story are very exciting. The mystery is easy to figure out. Not sure if everyone will like it. The narrator is wonderful. The publisher has put a disclaimer on it because of the racist and sexist language. It is a classic but I feel very ambivalent about recommending it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

First in Excellent Series

Narration: Perfect, clear, interesting, authentic Aussie inflection.

Story: Excellent foundation for excellent series. Written in 1928 or earlier, dialogue is replete with sexist and racist language and ideas, but dealt with in an historically accurate manner, actually sympathetic to Aboriginees--as compared with American sentiment at the time--, and which does not detract from complex story raising questions about ethnicity, race, and gender relations.
I do not encourage listening to this audio before others in the series, as the racism may put off the listener from enjoying subsequent compelling, much less objectionable audiobooks.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

First far from best

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Enjoyed the book, but I was disappointed that the key character took such a small part in it. The book centers much more on the squatter's family and affairs than with the mystery. There isn't much mystery at that.

Have you listened to any of Peter Hosking’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I love Peter Hosking's readings.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Hard to Read/Listen To Despite Publisher Warning

While I understand that Upfield's books reflect the attitudes and policies in Australia during the period he was writing, I had a difficult time finishing this book.I think the fact that the author seemed to be accepting of the attitudes toward Aborigines, including the feeling that it was okay to kill a black man, was so off putting it made me cringe.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The first in a brilliantly written series

Anyone interested in the human condition, history & or a good story should read the Bony series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating look into other cultures

I appreciate the disclaimers about language and attitudes about race and gender roles while taking in a rich story of life in a world where these attitudes govern the behaviour of the participants.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

An age past

This is an interesting book. The old beliefs about race are very clear and distressing but there is no hatred involved. I think people these days don’t understand that. People sincerely believed things that we now know are wrong but without the hatred we see today. I believe that should be recognized.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Start with The Sands of Windee

The Napoleon Bonaparte mysteries are a hidden gem, particularly the first dozen or so. Per advice from other reviewers, I started the series with book #2, The Sands of Windee. Came back much later to The Barrakee Mystery, and while it is entertaining, and in parts compelling, Bony plays a minor tile in the story. Come back to it later as I did if you care to, but jump into the series at book 2 where the story centers on Bony and Aboriginal culture as the primary focus.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!