In the heart of the Australian outback, a young man named Dick Trevanion embarks on a perilous journey to uncover the truth behind his father's mysterious death. Guided by a cryptic map, he ventures into the unforgiving wilderness, where danger lurks at every turn. As Dick delves deeper into the secrets of the past, he encounters a cast of enigmatic characters, each with their own hidden motives. From the enigmatic prospector, Jack Cardew, to the alluring but treacherous Lady Norah, Dick must navigate a treacherous path, where fortunes are made and lost, and the line between friend and foe blurs.

In the heart of the Australian outback, a young woman named Sylvia finds herself drawn into a dangerous game of intrigue and deception. When her father, a renowned scientist, mysteriously disappears, Sylvia teams up with the enigmatic Nikola, a man with a shadowy past and a thirst for adventure. Together, they embark on a perilous journey to uncover the truth behind her father's disappearance. Along the way, they encounter treacherous landscapes, ruthless enemies, and a web of secrets that threatens to consume them both. As the stakes rise, Sylvia and Nikola must confront their own demons and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy everything they hold dear.

Farewell Nikola is the fifth and last novel of the Dr Nikola series. We are reacquainted with Richard "Dick" Hatteras, former South Seas adventurer and Roustabout who clashed with Dr Nicola in "A Bid for Fortune". He is now Sir Richard Hatteras and firmly married. He is taking a long sojourn with his wife and companions in Venice, where quite by chance he bumps into Dr Nikola, who despite their stormy past, is the height of affability. He is still suave, cosmopolitan, cultivated and just as unscrupulous as he ever was. We discover that Nikola lives alone in Venice in a dilapidated palace with a macabre history. Hatteras is drawn once more into a tangled web spun by Dr Nikola who reveals something of his own past and presents a side of himself that we have never seen. He still regards himself above all laws, and follows his own strange code of conduct. If you thought that words like empathy, compassion, contrition would never have featured in the lexicon of Dr Nicola then be prepared for a surprise.

Please note: This audiobook has been created using AI voice. Guy Newell Boothby, born in Adelaide, was one of the most popular of Australian authors in the late 19th and early 20th century, writing dozens of novels of sensational fiction. A Bid for Fortune, or Dr. Nikola's Vendetta is the first of his series of five books featuring the sinister mastermind Dr. Nikola, a character of gothic appearance usually accompanied by a large black cat, and who has powers of mesmerism. In this first novel, the protagonist is a young Australian, Richard Hatteras, who has made a small fortune in pearldiving operations in the Thursday Islands. With money in his pocket, he decides to travel. Visiting Sydney before taking ship for England, he meets and falls in love with the daughter of the Colonial Secretary, Sylvester Wetherell. As the story moves on, it is revealed that Wetherell has fallen foul of the evil Dr. Nikola, who has developed a devious scheme to force Wetherell to submit in to his demands to give him a mysterious oriental object he has acquired. The life and liberty of Hatteras' ladylove are imperilled as Nikola's plot moves on, and Hatteras has to make strenuous efforts to locate and free her. Boothby's novels, particularly the Dr. Nikola books, achieved considerable popular success, particularly in his native country of Australia. A study of library borrowings in the early 20th Century has shown that Boothby's works were almost as frequently borrowed in Australia as those of Charles Dickens and H. Rider Haggard.

"Farewell Nikola is the fifth and last novel of the Dr Nikola series. We are reacquainted with Richard ""Dick"" Hatteras, former South Seas adventurer and Roustabout who clashed with Dr Nicola in "A Bid for Fortune"". He is now Sir Richard Hatteras and firmly married. He is taking a long sojourn with his wife and companions in Venice, where quite by chance (or is it ?) he bumps into Dr Nikola, who despite their stormy past, is the height of affability. He is still suave, cosmopolitan, cultivated and just as unscrupulous as he ever was. We discover that Nikola lives alone in Venice in a dilapidated palace with a macabre history. Hatteras is drawn once more into a tangled web spun by Dr Nikola who reveals something of his own past and presents a side of himself that we have never seen. He still regards himself above all laws, and follows his own strange code of conduct. If you thought that words like empathy, compassion, contrition would never have featured in the lexicon of Dr Nicola then be prepared for a surprise. - Summary by Peter Keeble"