Historical
Published in 1939, " The Mystery of Swordfish Reef ” was not published in France until the year 2000 by Editions 10/18, translated from the English by Michèle Valencia.
Arthur Upfield, born in England in 1888, was sent at the age of nineteen years by his parents in Australia. He would spend his whole life there, except the period of the 14-18. war. He will discover the wildlife outback Australian outback, will cross for years throughout the continent, living off odd jobs and makeshift jobs. He will meet in 1927 a mixed aboriginal, Queensland Police "tracker", who will inspire the character of Detective Napoleon Bonaparte, and reveal with him a great talent for writing novels. He will publish its first thriller in 1928, and would not cease until his death in 1964, at the rate of nearly one novel per year. He is now recognized as the father of the "ethnological thriller" (*).
With 30 detective novels written by Arthur Upfield, a single has the action at sea, far from the outback and aborigines : it is " The Swordfish Reef ”.
The Novel
The investigation was set offshores of Bermagui, in The New South Wales, and takes place in the world of "big game fishing", practiced on the southeast coast of Australia by wealthy sport fishing enthusiasts. The coral reef in question, North-South Oriented, part of Montague Island Nature Reserve, facing Bermagui (See the map below). It is in the currents that surround these reefs that focuses the bulk of shark, marlin and swordfish fishing.
The story is inspired by real events : the disappearance in 1880 of geologist Lamont Young in New South Wales, in a coastal area which will then take the name "Mystery Bay". Taken out from his usual territory that is outback Australian outback, Detective Napoleon Bonaparte, nicknamed "Bony", comes to investigate the murder of a Scotland Yard officer, whose skull riddled with bullets surfaced in the net of a trawler, and on the disappearance of his companions and their boat. He must integrate itself in the highly closed marine professionals who take their customers face fishes over 100kg.
Beyond a police plot as always, by Upfield, as cleverly crafted, The story allows us to discover this very particular environment of the reef fishermen. The author obviously took care to embark and practice this activity himself, so describes us scenes particularly realistic. This is an excellent maritime thriller, you will have a good time in this particular universe of yachting, and you will certainly want to know some other titles from the author.
The Swordfish Reef (Map ENC-AHO by Geogarage)
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(*) Followed some years later by the american Tony Hillerman's thrillers featuring Navajo Tribal Police.
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Other titles in the Reading section
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