Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Murchison Murders | 1934 | Arthur Upfield | Buy |
| 2 | The Gifts of Frank Cobbold | 2008 | Arthur Upfield | Buy |
| 3 | Beyond the Mirage | 2020 | Arthur Upfield | Buy |
Arthur Upfield’s non-fiction output is small but notable. The Murchison Murders (1934) is a true crime book with an unusual backstory. While working in the outback, Upfield discussed the plot of his then-unpublished novel The Sands of Windee with fellow workers, including a method for completely destroying a murder victim’s body. A man named Snowy Rowles overheard the idea and used it to commit three real murders in Western Australia.
The police eventually caught Rowles, and Upfield wrote his account of the case. It is a strange piece of publishing history: a crime novelist whose fictional murder method was stolen and used by an actual killer, who then wrote the non-fiction book about the real crimes.