Phryne Fisher is on holiday. She means to take the train to Sydney (where the harbour bridge is being built), go to a few cricket matches, dine with the Chancellor of the university and perhaps go to the Arts Ball with that celebrated young modernist, Chas Nutall. She has the costume of a lifetime and she's not afraid to use it. When she arrives there, however, her maid Dot finds that her extremely respectable married sister Joan has vanished, leaving her small children to the neglectful care of a resentful husband. She rescues the children, but what has become of Joan, who would never leave her babies? Surely she hasnA[a¬a[t run away with a lover, as gossip suggests? Phryne must trawl the nightclubs and bloodtubs of Darlinghurst to find out. And while Phryne is visiting the university, two very pretty young men, Joss and Clarence, ask her to find out who has broken into the Dean's safe and stolen a number of things, including the Dean's wife's garnets and an irreplaceable illuminated book called the Hours of Juana the Mad. An innocent student has been blamed. So there is no rest for the wicked, and Phryne girds up her loins, loads her pearl handled .32 Beretta, and sallies forth to find mayhem, murder, black magic, and perhaps a really good cocktail at the Hotel Australia.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In one of Greenwood's stronger entries in her acclaimed series set in 1920s Australia (Ruddy Gore, etc.), her elegant, larger-than-life amateur sleuth Phryne Fisher travels on holiday from Melbourne to Sydney, where she confronts a pair of pressing mysteries as soon as she washes off the grime of her train trip. Joss Hart and Clarence Ottery, young gentlemen escorts who are students at the University of Sydney, ask Phryne to exonerate a friend accused of stealing exams from a safe in the dean's office. Then Phryne's maid, Dot Williams, discovers her sister, Joan, has disappeared, leaving two young children in the care of Joan's loutish husband. With typical aplomb, Phryne juggles both puzzles, even as she crosses swords with a sinister cult leader who may have at least some of the answers she seeks. The author artfully blends action, humor and deduction. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"one of Greenwood's stronger entries in her acclaimed series set in 1920s Australia...The author artfully blends action, humor and deduction." --Publisher's Weekly
"The change of scene and a hint of Dorothy L. Sayers gives the delightfully refreshing Phryne one of her best cases to date." --Kirkus Reviews
"This series is the best Australian import since Nicole Kidman, and Phyrne is the flashiest new female sleuth in the genre." --Booklist starred review of Away with the Faeries
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Flapper Phryne Fisher bats for Australia,
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This review is from: Death Before Wicket: A Phryne Fisher Mystery (Paperback)
Even though much of the time I could not make sense of the cricket action, I loved this entry in the Phryne Fisher series. The contrast between the over-civilized university and the brutal degradation of the Melbourne slums was wonderfully depicted.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Aussie Sleuth is a Hit,
This review is from: Death Before Wicket (Phryne Fisher Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
Once again, the delightful Phryne Fisher is out and about, solving Australia's mysteries during the twenties...the writing is crisp, the characters (especially the secondary characters) are deftly drawn, and this is a book to curl up with on a cold spring day. A cozy series with a touch of bitters--Angostura?--that makes a tart, but charming read.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It Ain't Cricket,
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This review is from: Death Before Wicket (Phryne Fisher Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)
The further adventures of the Hon. Phryne Fisher take place in Sydney where she and her maid, Dorothy, go for a "vacation." Phryne promises Dot `no murders on this trip.' Instead, she does undertake to solve two mysteries.
Two young men, university students, implore her to solve a theft from the university safe in the Dean's office of a number of items, including an ancient Egyptian papyrus, so that a friend of theirs can be absolved of the thievery. Then there is the matter of Dot's sister, who is missing. Each involves usual circumstances, enabling the author to demonstrate Phryne's unusual tastes and ability to intuit, as well as to use a wide range of uncanny knowledge of ancient lore and rituals. The novel is the 10th in chronological order in the series' original publication sequence. PPP has published 12 of these in no particular order. Each, so far, has been very much worth the while of the reader.
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