Murder on the Ballarat Train [Mass Market Paperback]

Kerry Greenwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 1993

When an elderly woman is snatched from her train compartment and murdered, the woman's daughter hires glamorous jazz baby and private investigator Phryne Fisher to find the killers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The third Phryne Fisher mystery is one of the standouts of the series, effortlessly matching a compelling plot with its irresistible heroine. Fisher and her faithful companion, Dot, narrowly escape death while riding on a train when Fisher awakens to find chloroform fumes have rendered the other passengers unconscious-before succumbing herself. When some order is restored, Fisher and Dot discover that an elderly woman who had been travelling with her daughter is missing. The police inquiry soon finds the woman's battered corpse, and Fisher is retained to solve the crime, doing so with her usual insight, pluck and style.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

This latest mystery to feature the irrepressible Phryne Fisher, Melbourne's uninhibited 1920s private detective, begins with Phryne saving the lives of a group of travelers when someone chloroforms their train compartments. Unfortunately, an elderly woman is discovered missing and then found murdered. It's left to Phryne to unmask the killer while rescuing a young girl who suffers from amnesia. This series continues to offer a feisty main character and a vividly created and definitely unusual historical setting--the flapper Down Under. Sue O'Brien
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Fawcett; 1st edition (August 4, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449148327
• ISBN-13: 978-0449148327
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,951,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More adventures of Phyrne Fisher in 1920's Australia, March 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder on the Ballarat Train (Mass Market Paperback)

In the further adventures of Phryne Fisher, she is travelling by train to Ballarat in 1920's Australia, but her journey is rudely interrupted by a cloud of chloroform. She helps a girl with amnesia and a woman whose mother died on the train trip. Go Phryne !!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pure delight!, June 21, 2006

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder on the Ballarat Train (Mass Market Paperback)

Phryne Fisher and her companion Dot are on the Ballarat Train. Phryne awakens realizing the first class car is filled with chloroform fumes. She opens the windows, saves the passengers but realizes that the quarrelsome mother of one of the passengers is missing. The mother's body is found badly broken and Phryne agrees to find the killer. Additional, Phryne rescues a young girl who has lost her memory.

I've said it before, but Phryne is who I'd like to be when I grow up; beautiful, smart, tough, independent, fashionable, wealthy but mindful of her poor beginnings and willing to help those who truly are in need. She has a wonderful, ever growing, cast of supporting characters who are diverse and interesting in their own right. This was not the strongest book in the series, but I do love the series overall. These are slightly over the top, just plain fun books.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars miss fisher advances, November 21, 2006

By 

E Rice (western ny state) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder on the Ballarat Train: A Phryne Fisher Mystery (Hardcover)

in the third of the series, phyrne solves a murder, rescues two children and a cat, and proves once again that she is the most admirable fictional character in any genre. of course, any fan of golden age mysteries will be entertained by references and hallowed plots (which ms. greenwood makes completely her own).

the writing is not merely grammatical (a major plus after too many american mysteries apparently written by authors new to the language), it is funny, sarcastic in the inimitable aussie style, revealing, wonderfully descriptive, in all ways entertaining. occassionally enlightening. the plot, as usual, has lovely twists and red herrings.

i have come to think of her in the same terms as i think of patrick o'brian--a superlative writer with a secure grasp on her time period and an excellent, even uncanny, insight.

and, of course, the food, drinks, fashions and phyrne's pets are always fun.