23 MARCH 1956, Page 23

THE BATTLING PROPHET. By Arthur Upfield. (Heinemann, 12 s. 6d.) The

special and unmistakable merit of Arthur Upfield's Australian detective stories lies not so much in his plots, though these are ingenious enough, but in his creation of the half-caste detective, Napoleon Bonaparte, lineal and logical descendant of those of his aboriginal forbears who were trackers by trade; and in his evocation of the dusty, •sun-dried small towns of the back- blocks. This latest novel is well up in an already high class.

CHRISTOPHER PYM