16 MAY 1958, Page 25

The Bachelors of Broken Hill. By Arthur Upfield. (Heinemann, 12s.

6d.) Newly published but patently earlyish adventure of the half- Australian aboriginal detective Napoleon Bona- parte. Instead of the sun-blasted outback about which Mr. Upfield writes so well, the city of Broken Hill, where unlikely characters spout stilted dialogue, and most of the detective-story rules are broken in course of preposterous plot. Bitterly disappointing to Upfield upholders.