Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood

Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood, 187 pages

From the MARC: "Vacationing at a Gothic mansion in Australia's Victorian mountain country, Phryne Fisher becomes embroiled in a mystery involving death threats to her host, the strangling murder of a parlor maid, and the presence of mysterious funerary urns."

Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood

Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood, 208 pages

From the MARC: "Phryne Fisher is bored with her perfect life when a man from her past asks for her help in investigating strange happenings at Farrell's Circus, drawing Phryne into the strange carnival underworld."

I hadn't heard of Phyrne Fisher until I'd watched the tv show; I didn't realize it was based on a book series until later. As I've made my way through the books, it's been really interesting to compare the show to the books. The episode based on this book is not one of my favorites, but I really enjoyed this novel. 

Blood and Circuses was published in 1994 and has an intersex character whose arc is approached with empathy and a quiet awareness I wasn't expecting. We also get to see a side of Phyrne that the show sometimes teased out but that the books hadn't really flushed out yet: how her poverty-stricken, traumatic upbringing still affects her.

 

Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood

Death at Victoria Dock by Kerry Greenwood, 164 pages

A beautiful young man dies in Phryne Fisher's arms, leading her into a wild whirlwind of revolution, a missing young girl, kidnapping, and bank robbery.

I am only three books into this series and I can't quite put my finger on why I love Phryne Fisher so much. She's unapologetically sexual, clever, and brave. She isn't quite like any heroine I've read. 

The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood

The Green Mill Murder by Kerry Greenwood, 173 pages

When a man is murdered during a dance marathon in the Green Mill, Phryne Fisher has a front row seat. Soon her life is consumed with who murdered the odious blackmailer, where he gentleman escort escaped to, and where to find a supposedly-dead war hero whose inheritance hangs in the balance. 

The Green Mill Murder might be my favorite in the series so far. It starts in a club and ends in the isolated mountains of the bush, which seems strange but has a logical flow in story. Again I find myself eager to pick up the next book in the series. 

Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood

Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood, 151 Pages

Someone chloroforms a trainful of people, including the Hon. Phryne Fisher, to murder one elderly lady, leading the lady detective to investigate not only who, but how an unconscious woman was removed from the train with no trace. Meanwhile, an amnesiac orphan is found with an uncertain connection to the train, and her fragmented memory might hold the key to the case.  Phryne Fisher races to find the truth before the murderer strikes again--in her own home. 

Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood

Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood, 156 pages

Murder of a wife beater. the kidnapping of a young girl, aeroplane stunts: Phryne Fisher, lady detective, is on the case!  

Flying Too High is an excellent followup to Cocaine Blues. It has plenty of action, Fisher sass, salacious seductions, and a cast of characters you will quickly grow to love. The pacing is perfect and makes for a delightful historical read. 

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood

 Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood, 175 pages

When Phyrne Fisher grows tired of the London social scene, she tries her hand at being a lady detective in the Antipodes halfway across the world. Immediately, she is embroiled in mysteries and scandals involving drugs and poison and corrupt officials. 

I am a huge fan of the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries, and when I discovered the show was based on a series of books, I immediately dove in! The book starts quickly and just never stops. The Phyrne Fisher on the page is just as empathetic, clever, and charming as the one from the show. Cocaine Blues wasn't my favorite storyline (book or show), so I'm eager to read on.

Medea by Kerry Greenwood

Medea: A Delphic Woman Novel by Kerry Greenwood --- 431 pages

The first volume in a new trilogy blending Ancient Greek history and myth by the prolific Australian author of the Phryne Fisher and Corinna Chapman mystery series.

The one thing that everyone remembers about Medea from the tale of Jason and the Argonauts and the Quest for the Golden Fleece is that Medea was a sorceress who beguiled the hero Jason into marrying her, then murdered their children to punish Jason when he discovered her crimes and abandoned her.

But Kerry Greenwood suggests there is another side to this story --- Medea's side. And that --- perhaps inevitably --- a strong and passionate woman has been wronged by the mysogonistic assumptions of ancient playwrights and subsequent scholarship. Greenwood certainly makes an interesting case for this alternative portrait of Medea.

A second volume, Cassandra, is in the works. 

Unnatural Habits by Kerry Greenwood

Unnatural Habits; A Phryne Fisher Mystery by Kerry Greenwood --- 288 pages

Kerry Greenwood is the author of a popular series of mystery stories set in her native Australia in ther aftermath of World War I, featuring her amateur sleuth, the Honorable Phryne (rhymes with briney) Fisher.

In this novel, the eighteenth in the series, Phryne rescues a young and impetuous woman reporter from a beating for poking her nose into places where it is not welcome. When the reporter, in hot pursuit of an expose on pregnant young women vanishing from the so-called refuge provided by a convent of nums, mysteriously drops out of sight, Phryne and her "minions" --- the various orphans she's rescued and friends in high and low places she's picked up in the course of her adventures --- go looking for her. Phryne uncovers several different crimes and scandals during her insouciant investigations, but not the whereabouts of the young reporter.

Greenwood's Phryne has been compared to Dorothy Sayers' Harriet Vane, but I would rather compare her to the shallow and silly "noble sleuth" version of Lord Peter Wismey, before he encounters Harriet and becomes a real person. Far more interesting than Phryne or her improbable adventures are the historical descriptions of postWorld War I Australia that Greenwood embeds in her stories.