From Publishers Weekly
Crime strikes close to home in this latest installment of Greenwood's charming series (
The Castlemaine Murders, etc.) featuring 1920s Aussie amateur sleuth, Phryne Fisher. While the town of St. Kilda prepares for the 1928 Flower Parade, Phryne's adopted daughter, Ruth, disappears after learning her father's identity from her birthmother, Anna Ross. Phryne adds Ruth to her caseload, which coincidentally includes the search for another missing young woman, Rose Weston. As with other series entries, the solution to the mystery is secondary to the author's clever prose and gift for characterization. Phryne carries the action ably, even if her resourcefulness and unflappability sometimes border on the superhuman. The engaging cast of familiar supporting characters—including Phryne's maid, Dot, and her Chinese lover, Lin Chung—will delight longtime fans, but newcomers who like their crime on the lighter side can jump in without any trouble.
(July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Australia, 1928. Phryne Fisher, the flamboyant flapper and amateur sleuth, has been chosen to be Queen of the Flowers for this year’s Flower Parade. But, as loyal readers of this long-running series know, Phryne can’t seem to do anything without landing herself in the midst of a mystery. This time she takes Rose, a troubled young woman, under her wing, and when Rose vanishes, Phryne embarks on a no-holds-barred campaign to find her. The charm of this series remains the way it connects the flapper era to contemporary life. Phryne is an outspoken, acid-tongued adventurer who won’t take lip from anyone. She’d be right at home in a novel set in the present day, but that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. Here she stands out deliciously from her surroundings (but, given her flapper characterization, she does so believably, never seeming anachronistic). Her interactions with the more conventional characters who surround her give the stories humor and pizzazz. This is a consistently strong series that shows no signs of running out of steam. --David Pitt
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
