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Death of a Lake

1954

Six hundred miles from the sea, Lake Otway is dying. Heat, drought and thirst-craed animals take their toll.

Ray Gillen, lucky lottery winner of £12,000, went for a midnight swim one night, and never came back.

Was it an accident or murder? And what has happened to the money?

As the water level drops, five men and two women wait to find out whether the shrinking lake will uncover Gillen's body, his missing money, or neither.

Detective-Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte is also content to wait, playing out time as Bony the horse-breaker ... until a tank of dead birds makes him change his mind.

from the 1994 Hinkler edition

Review

As always, there's a rich flavour of the land and those who live on it, but in this novel, Upfield examines the individuals and the relationships in more detail than usual, and creates much more suspense than most of the series.

As the plot moves gently from person to person, the tension mounts, with enough clues to keep us involved, but not enough to know the outcome.

For me, this is the best.

Publishing History

Australia

United Kingdom - 1954 Heinemann, London

United States - 1954 Doubleday Crime Club