Travels in Arnhem Land by Mr Thomas

Thanks to Lords Safaris 

Title: Travels in Arnhem Land by Mr Thomas 

Author: Mr Thomas 

Publisher: Not known 

Source book: Dead Man’s Chest by Kerry Greenwood (Phryne Fisher #18)

The Hon. Miss Phryne Fisher, unusual private detective, meets anthropologist Mr Thomas at a party and arranges to borrow his house in Queenscliff for her seaside holiday, while he travels to the Northern Territories on another of his adventurous investigations. Mr Thomas says he has very reliable staff, Mr and Mrs Johnson, who will expect Miss Fisher and her family.

However, when Miss Fisher arrives in Queenscliff, the staff have vanished, the beds are not made up and there is no food in the house. Dot and Ruth devote themselves to cooking a succession of lavish meals, and Jane investigates the library. She finds Travels in Arnhem Land and Fetish and Mystery in Arnhem Land. Both by their host Mr Thomas (who doesn’t ever get a first name. Pity).

One of the upstairs rooms is locked with a large padlock, which Jane unpicks. The room contains numerous items traded from the aboriginal people of Arnhem Land: bones and skulls. Apparently, in the 1920s, anthropologists thought it perfectly OK to wander off with skulls and things from ‘native’ burial sites. Pretty unpleasant behaviour if you ask me.

Thanks to Audley Travel