Murder on a Midsummer Night [Paperback]

Kerry Greenwood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2010

The Hon. Phryne Fisher, languid and slightly bored at the start of 1929, is engaged to find out if the antique-shop son of a Pre-Raphaelite model has died by homicide or suicide. He has some strange friends - a Balkan adventuress, a dilettante with a penchant for antiquities, a Classics professor, a medium and a mysterious supplier who arries after dark on a motorbike. At the same time she is asked to discover the fate of the lost illegitimate child of a rich old lady, to the evident dislike of the remaining relatives.
   With the help of her sister Beth, the cab drivers Bert and Cec and even her two adoptive daughters, Phryne follows eerie leads which take her into odd territory, including the conquest of Jerusalem by General Allenby and the Australian Light Horse, kif smokers, spirit guides, pirate treasure maps and ghosts.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Everyone calls the drowning of young Melbourne antiques dealer Augustine Manifold a suicide—except for his distraught mother and Phyrne Fisher, the heroine of Greenwood's long-running series set in 1920s Australia (Murder in the Dark, etc.). Brainy, beautiful, blue-blooded and rich to boot, the enviably stylish PI somehow manages to juggle the demands of two adopted daughters, an exotic lover and a full social calendar with multiple cases, including a hunt for the illegitimate heir to a fortune—all while rarely missing a morsel of her cook's inspired creations. Greenwood keeps the action moving as swiftly as milady's Hispano-Suiza, save for the initially confusing flashbacks at the end of many chapters that eventually become pieces in the solution of the Manifold puzzle. But there's no quibbling with the author's ability to create a sybaritic piece of period escapism. As Phryne's mates would say approvingly: Bonzer! (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

It’s 1929, and Phryne Fisher, the Australian flapper and private investigator, has a couple of cases on her plate. A man’s suicide might not be as cut-and-dried as it appears, and there’s the matter of an illegitimate child who stands to inherit a vast sum of money, if Phryne can find her. As usual, Greenwood populates the novel with an assortment of offbeat characters, from socialists and psychics to adventurers and antiques hunters. The story moves along at a brisk clip, and Phryne has plenty of opportunities to unleash her acid tongue and apply her razor-sharp wit. Another fine entry in this long-running and deservedly popular series. --David Pitt --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; 1 Reprint edition (July 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590587413
• ISBN-13: 978-1590587416
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #858,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars terrific Australian Depression Era mystery, July 2, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder on a Midsummer Night (Phryne Fisher Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

In Melbourne in 1929 the drowning death of twenty-nine years old antiques dealer Augustine Manifold is considered a suicide by most of the city including the police. Perhaps the only holdouts are as expected his distraught mom who refuses to believe her son killed himself and wealthy private investigator Phyrne Fisher.

Though her plate seems overflowing with her meeting her socialite demands, raising two adopted daughters, and working several concurrent cases like searching for a missing heir, she agrees to look into Augustine's death and still have time for her Chinese lover. As she digs deeper into the alleged suicide Phyrne begins finding evidence that her gut is right that someone murdered Manifold, but who and proving it seems impossible to uncover.

This terrific Australian Depression Era mystery is perhaps the most complicated entry in the super Fisher saga. The story line is fast-paced but seems initially all over the place until master magician Kerry Greenwood brings the threads together in a brilliant manner. Phyrne is her usual kick butt independent dynamo as she manages a zillion things only to keep adding one more time consumer onto her overflowing plate. The Manifold investigation is top rate as she sets out to prove the suicide was actually MURDER ON A MIDSUMMER NIGHT.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phryne delights again, December 29, 2011

By 

Amy Driscoll - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Murder on a Midsummer Night: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries 17 (Phryne Fisher Mystery) (Kindle Edition)

I've now read every book so far in the Phryne Fisher mystery series, and each has been an absolute delight. I can't wait for the next installation!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Happy New Year, October 2, 2009

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Murder on a Midsummer Night (Phryne Fisher Mysteries (Hardcover)) (Hardcover)

In the previous 15 novels in this delightful series, the Hon. Phryne Fisher cavorted through a series of capers in the year 1928. Now in the 16th entry, we progress to the dire year 1929, and the 'thoroughly modern miss' is faced with two absorbing new adventures in her inimitable fashion.

First, she is asked by the mother of an antique dealer to find the real reason for his death, ruled a misadventure by drowning. It would appear that several dilettantes believed that he knew where Blackbeard's treasures are buried and, through séances, are still attempting to ascertain their location by making contact with him.

Then, Phryne is approached by an attorney to discover whether or not a deceased woman gave birth to an illegitimate baby, and whether the child is still alive, since the attorney cannot distribute the estate until all possible heirs are known. The investigation, of course, is not looked upon favorably by the known relatives.

Like previous Phryne Fisher novels, this one is charming, as is the protagonist, who goes her merry way. The writing is fluid and the characters the usual assortment of oddities. The author's approach may be whimsical, but there's a lot of meat in the tales, and the book is recommended.