Kerry Greenwood: Murder and Mendelssohn

Confession of a Phryne Fisher addict
Confession: I am addicted to Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series and got really excited that #20 in the series is published. My excitement was not in vain as Kerry Greenwood (and Phryne) are still at the top of their form.

For those who don't know about Phryne (pronounced fry-knee) Fisher here is a quick resume. She was born in in Melbourne, the daughter of an impoverished younger son of an English peer. Her father inherited the title and wealth when his elder brothers died before him. She was sent to an exclusive girl's school in England which produced an independent approach to life. She drove an ambulance to rescue wounded at the front line in the Somme, spent some time in military intelligence, became an impoverished artist's model in Paris of the early 1920's and returned to Melbourne in 1928, a rich independent young woman looking for adventure - which she found as a female sleuth.

Phryne soon found an impressive home on the beachside at St Kilda and collected an eclectic and addictive mix of family, friends, and  followers/helpers to share her life (and her sleuthing). First and foremost, there is Dot, her very ordinary but very capable personal assistant and Mr and Mrs Butler, housekeepers and chauffeur extraordinaire. Her adopted teenage daughters Jane (a budding Doctor) and Ruth (a superb chef) were plucked by Phryne from poverty and slavery and her adopted son, Tinker, was a former street waif. Her first followers were Bert and Cec, snipers at Gallipoli, now dock workers, taxi drivers and communist sympathisers. During her first case Phryne met hard working, long suffering and ordinary Detective Inspector Jack Robinson who has to cope with the fallout from Phryne's investigations.

Phryne is stylish, beautiful, intelligent and selectively promiscuous (with Lin Chung, a leader of the local Chinese community being her long term lover). Her household never questions the stream of handsome young men Phryne brings home to her luxurious boudoir apartment in her house.

This mystery features all of these regulars, except Lin Chung who is away in Hong Kong on business. Phryne meets an old friend and lover, Dr John Wilson, who she knew from the days on the Somme when they comforted one another physically in the back of her ambulance with shells bursting overhead. While John is more attracted to his own sex he still cannot resist Phryne's charms. He confides that he is besotted by his companion, the handsome, rude and enigmatic code-breaker Rupert Sheffield but his feelings are not returned. Warning: some readers may not be comfortable with issues of love between men which are discussed extensively but not explicitly.

The main mystery this time is the murder of successive conductors who are rehearsing a local choir for a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah - all of them pretty obnoxious people. Kerry Greenwood shows her extensive knowledge of choral music and conjures up a diverse group of amateur choristers, most with an immense thirst for alcohol, any of whom could be the murderer. The main problem for Phryne is that she wants to entertain the most handsome chorister but can't do so until the murderer is found. When the murderer was found Phryne got her wishes - and she always likes happy endings!

While this book can be read as a stand-alone, I would recommend starting reading #1 and #3 to get a good background to Phryne's early days in Melbourne as she gathers together her family, friends and followers.

Kerry Greenwood: Unnatural Habits

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This is arguably one of the best of the Phryne Fisher adventures. I am a long term Phryne (pronounced fry-nee) Fisher fan and highly recommend all of Kerry Greenwood's entertaining and atmospheric series about a rich, titled, beautiful, fashionable, emancipated and very enterprising female sleuth set in Melbourne in 1928-29.

Normally I would say that Phryne's adventures are a romp but this is the most serious one so far. By accident Phryne get involved in a couple of apparently related problems - the disappearance of some pregnant unwed girls and under-age virgin girls.  An enthusiastic journalistic who is asking questions about these girls gets kidnapped. Even more bizarre, a person seemingly dressed as a nun attacks and sterilises some men who are responsible for these pregnancies.

The story examines the contemporary attitude to "fallen women", their "children of shame" and especially the attitudes of the Catholic Church and their Convents to punishment of these women for their sins. Some of the descriptions of their treatment, albeit apparently factual, are pretty harrowing.

To solve this case Phryne calls in favours from all over town - the main brothel owner, the undercover gay's club, and even the Archbishop but most help comes from her extended family of "minions".  Her notionally dysfunctional but amazingly cohesive and  supportive "family" includes Dot her personal assistant and confidant, Jane and Ruth her adopted teenage daughters (who Phryne saved from a life of poverty and slavery), taxi drivers and Communist sympathisers Bert and Cec, Inspector Jack Robinson and Constable Hugh Collins (Dot's boy friend) and even her sapphic sister Eliza and her partner Lady Alice. We are also introduced to Tinker, a 14 year old waif who has recently moved in with the family but after so many years living on the street is only comfortable sleeping in the garden shed.

Compared to other books in the series we see little of Phryne's prolific love life, except an intense interlude when she takes out her frustration with the case by ravishing her long-time Chinese lover Lin Chen.

Phryne Fisher's adventures are easy to read, very addictive, thoroughly entertaining and highly recommended.

Kerry Greenwood: Death by Water: Phryne Fisher #15

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First Class Phryne Fisher adventure
This is another charming adventure with The Hon Phryne Fisher, a unique, beautiful, stylish, sexy and larger than life private investigator who romps through life in Melbourne in 1928 and 1929.

This time Phryne is bored because her long time Chinese lover, Lin Chung, is away and the peace and quiet of her house is disturbed by a long term visit by her sister and lady friend. She decides that it is a good time to take a cruise to New Zealand courtesy of P & O to investigate a serial jewel thief active on the last few voyages.

The descriptions of First Class on a 1920's cruise liner are delectable and as usual Phryne finds herself in the midst of intrigue and eventually murder. The scenarios of the South Island and Milford Sound are still reminiscent of the area today.

Of course Phryne solves the mysteries with her normal aplomb and also finds time to leave a satisfied lover in her wake. I missed the atmosphere of Melbourne and Phryne's household and Lin Chung, otherwise I would have given it a higher ranking.

After 15 Phryne Fisher books you would think that Kerry Greenwood would be running out of steam and ideas - possibly so but I still enjoyed this book and have a few more that I look forward to reading.

Kerry Greenwood: The Castlemaine Murders

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The Delectable and Divine Detective - the Hon Phryne Fisher
Get ready to become addicted to this amazing series where the Hon Phryne Fisher, a unique, beautiful, stylish, sexy and larger than life character, romps through adventure after adventure as a private detective in Melbourne in 1928 and 1929.

In this mystery, Phryne visits a carnival and accidentally disturbs a mummified body of a person murdered during the 1852 Australian Gold Rush. To find out the identity of the body and how the murder happened, Phryne travels to Castlemaine in the goldfields and finds that the implications of the murder are still current. When Lin Chung (Phryne's long term Chinese lover) also goes to the goldfields to visit and manage his extensive family and explore ancient feuds, he finds that the two mysteries are intertwined.

I have read at least 12 books in the Phryne Fisher series and loved every one of them. The plots are ingenious and frequently outrageous. Phryne's has a fantastic family of helpers, including communist taxi drivers, a ladies maid who acts as assistant sleuth, a friendly police inspector and humble constables, circus performers, adopted daughters saved from white slavery, and hosts of lovers (including Lin Chung, her favorite). In this book we are also introduced to Phryne's sister from England who starts off as an aristocratic bore and slowly unveils as a caring Fabian socialist with an impoverished aristocratic sapphic partner.

Warning: to really understand this amazing group of characters you should try to read the series from the beginning - starting with Cocaine Blues.

Kerry Greenwood's classic writing style and fantastic vocabulary keeps you entertained and frequently searching for the dictionary. See how many of these words from an earlier books you would need to look up: "collop, evanescent, agape, polyphiloprogenitive, presbyter, durance, aesthetes, embonpoint, sola, pavane, iodoform, seethe, obsequies, tesserae, parterre, pornutopia, julep, effluvium, valerian, vindaloo, acolyte, genuflect, progenitor, sapphic, seeress, auguries, lascivious, epicene, hetaera, servitor, repining, epicene".

ANOTHER WARNING - Phryne Fisher books are addictive. When you have read one, you will want to read more.

Kerry Greenwood: Cocaine Blues, Phryne Fisher #1

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The Delectable and Divine Detective - the Hon Phryne Fisher
The Hon Phryne Fisher is a unique, beautiful, stylish, sexy and larger than life character who romps through adventure after adventure in Melbourne in 1928 and 1929.  The descriptions of the time, fashions and the place are accurate and delightful.

The series has recently been released on Kindle in the U.S. so I am posting this review to encourage Americans to read this classic and addictive series.

Let me start by telling you something about Phryne (pronounced Fry-knee). She was born in Melbourne to impoverished descendants of an aristocratic and wealthy UK family. "I was born in very poor circumstances. Bitterly poor. Then (due to the Great War) several people died and I was whisked away into fashion and wealth. I enjoy it greatly." But Phryne was not content to live a life of wealth and luxury in England - she wanted action in her life and spent time in the seedy parts of Paris before heading back from England to Australia to help a family friend.

In the first book in the series we see her arrive in Melbourne and immediately assert her independence. Within hours of arrival she connects with a couple of taxi drivers who become her long time helpers, books into the Hotel Windsor with dozens of trunks full of the latest fashion, and goes out looking for more fashion. There she meets and helps a distraught young woman, Dorothy, planning to kill her employer's lecherous son with a kitchen knife. After cleverly helping Dorothy to embarrass the son without any injury, she asks her to become her maid. Dorothy quickly becomes Phryne's maid, personal assistant and close confident throughout the series.

Phryne then starts her many adventures and investigations. While set in the 1920's, Phryne is a very modern heroine who is always the centre of attention, relishes every one of life's moments and leaves a trail of satisfied lovers in her wake.

While much of Cocaine Blues is character development and scene setting, she starts her career as a private detective by tracking down the king of cocaine in Melbourne, a backstreet abortionist and a poisoner. In the course of her investigations she meets Detective Inspector Jack Robinson, who is intially suspicious of her activities but later on gains great respect for Thryne's skills and helps her with many investigations.

WARNING - Phryne Fisher books are addictive. When you have read one, you will want to read more.  In her next books she adds to her delightful "family" of helpers by setting up house (with housekeepers, cat and dog etc), extends her network of police contacts and satisfied lovers and even rescues 2 teenage children from white slavery and adopts them.  Please read on.....