The Bone is Pointed. Arthur W. Upfield

Jeffrey Anderson was a big man with a foul temper – a sadist and an ugly drunk. When his horse The Black Emperor came home riderless, no one cared. No one cared when no trace of the man could be found. Five months later, Inspector Bonaparte is called in to follow the cold case. What had happened to Anderson, his hat, his stock-whip, to his horse's neck-rope. The locals, black and white, are keeping their own secrets and Bony second-guessing…