Sand on the Gumshoe

EARNEST FAVENC

Favenc used his wide experience of the outback to colour both his journalism and adventure fiction. While publishing both poetry and non-fiction accounts of his expeditions in Queensland and Western Australia he is best remembered for his fiction.

My Only Murder is a fine example of Favenc’s exemplary style. His prose is only slightly tainted by the Victorian partiality for the turgid. He also managed to write with considerable wit, a rare quality for its time. This story which lampoons the essential differences between the romaticised mateship of the bush and the social constraints of urban society, is without doubt one of the best short crime pieces of the late nineteenth century.