The body of a young woman is found roughly buried in a remote spot in the Queensland Gulf Country. Forensic evidence from maggots in the body suggests that she must have been killed in Papua New Guinea, but the body could not possibly have moved from PNG to the Gulf within the timeline available.

Further investigation shows that she might have been caught up with drug smugglers and cattle thieves, but clues are still not forthcoming.

A maggot expert investigates in northern Cape York, aided by a young aboriginal girl who knows her country and its wildlife well. Together they try and work out what must have happened when, and who did it. They are aided by a wise hotel chambermaid, and a bird of paradise and a tree kangaroo.

About the Author

Paul Ferrar is a biologist who worked on dung beetles and maggots in northern Australia, on termites in a South African game park, as a rat-catcher in a large mental hospital in the UK, and in the Australian aid program managing cooperative research projects between Australian agricultural scientists and those in developing countries working on similar problems. He is also the author of a 907-page monograph on all you ever wanted to know and more about the maggots of 96 different families of flies. He is married to a very tolerant wife, also a research scientist and administrator but fortunately with a more conventional career.