If any man was ever born to be murdered, it was William Lush - a hated drunk who disappeared after beating his wife to death. Plenty of men had the opportunity to murder Lush, some the means, none the motive. Jill Madden, his pretty step-daughter, had all three… When Lush disappears, Inspector Bonaparte must look for a body - and the murderer - before the Darling River rises to flood level...

When two elderly bachelors were poisoned with cyanide, a strange woman was on the scene each time - and now she too has disappeared, leaving no trace. Tracking her down in a town of twenty eight thousand people is a job to tax even Inspector Bonaparte. He will need the unorthodox skills of burglar Jimmy the Screwsman and a lightning-sketch artist, as well as all the deductive and tracking skills at his command, as he trails a killer no-one has seen...

Sinister stones... On a lonely dirt road in Western Australia a police jeep is found. In it is Constable Stenhouse - shot dead. His Aboriginal tracker has disappeared. Enter Inspector Bonaparte, who soon realizes that he is not alone in his search for the criminal. The local Aboriginal tribe is seeking vengeance too...

In the little town of Mitford, New South Wales, four babies have been stolen - all boys, all under three months old, and all apparently neglected by their mothers. The local police have given up and the trail is cold. Then a fifth child vanishes, and the mother is found dead next to the empty cot. Inspector Bonaparte is called in, first to find the missing children, and only then to solve the murder...