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Summary
Summary
"The real star" of this British historical mystery "is Phryne with her Jazz Age fashions, devil-may-care attitude, and dry narrative wit" ( Booklist ).
When a mysterious invitation for a spa vacation arrives for Miss Phryne Fisher from an unknown retired Captain Herbert Spencer, Phryne's curiosity is piqued. Spencer runs a retreat in Victoria's rural spa country for shell-shocked veterans of World War I. It's a cause after Phryne's own heart, but what can Spencer want from her?
Phryne and her faithful servant Dot set out for Daylesford, viewing their rural sojourn as a short holiday. While Dot gets to know the remarkable women who run the hotel where they are lodging, Phryne enjoys an enticing meal--and dessert--with the attractive Captain Spencer. But their relaxation is short-lived as they are thrown into treacherous Highland gatherings, a mysterious case of disappearing women, and a string of murders committed under their very noses. Meanwhile, back at home, Phryne's three wards are busy solving a mystery of their own when a schoolmate is found floating face down near the docks--and pregnant at the time of her death.
Read the novels that inspired both the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries and the Ms. Fisher's Modern Mysteries streaming series on AcornTV.
Praise for the Phyrne Fisher mysteries:
"Anyone who hasn't discovered Phryne Fisher by now should start making up for lost time." -- Booklist
"Phryne handsomely demonstrates once more that even a compulsion to explore every mystery that comes her way needn't interfere with her appetite for life." -- Kirkus Reviews
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in 1929, Greenwood's charming 21st Phyrne Fisher mystery (after 2014's Murder and Mendelssohn) takes the well-to-do Australian sleuth from Melbourne to the country district of Daylesford, where a retired army captain has opened a spa to treat WWI vets suffering from shell shock that he hopes Phyrne will support financially. In Daylesford, Phyrne witnesses what first appears to be a tragic mishap. Kenneth McAlpine, the spa's bouncer, is demonstrating his prowess at tossing a log the size of a medium-size telephone pole, when it slips out of his hands, flies through the air, and fatally strikes a bystander, farmer Donald MacKay. After confronting the officious local sergeant with evidence that someone used a blowpipe to shoot McAlpine in the neck with a sliver of steel in a deliberate attempt to murder MacKay, Phyrne investigates. Humorous prose (a police officer's stubble is described as looking "as if he had just gone three rounds with a cheese-grater and been defeated on a technical knock-out") remains a series strength. Greenwood's many fans will be delighted. (June)
Kirkus Review
The incomparable Phryne Fisher returns to solve yet more complicated crimes. Inheriting enough wealth to lead a life of luxury in Australia after her father, an English aristocrat, cast her off, free-spirited Phryne has been saved from boredom by her forays into private detection and a series of lovers. Her wildly diverse friends include police detectives; socialist dock workers Bert and Cec; Dot, her maid and companion; her adopted daughters, Jane and Ruth; and Tinker, a boy she's taken in as part of the household. In February 1929, she receives a missive from a Capt. Spencer asking for monetary help with the spa he runs for victims of shell shock. With Dot in tow, she drives to Daylesford, where all is not well. Several women have gone missing over a period of time, but it's a shocking death, maybe accidental, maybe not, that involves her in a dangerous game. The Temperance Hotel is owned by Mr. Frederick McKenzie, but all the work there is done by his nieces, including the stunningly beautiful Annie, a magnet for men from miles around, like the caber tosser whose slip kills another of her admirers. Although bucolic settings are not Phryne's natural habitat, she works her way through a series of thorny problems and hidden secrets to reveal the truth. At the same time, while they're in Melbourne, Tinker, Bert, and Cec find a classmate of Jane and Ruth's dead and set out to solve that crime. Another round for a delightfully complex heroine whose social conscience infuses every case with extra appeal. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The inimitable Phryne Fisher, Lady Detective, is back (after Murder and Mendelssohn, 2013), driving her Hispano-Suiza and bringing along her companion, Dot, to the mountains of Hepburn Springs, where retired captain Herbert Spencer has set up a retreat for veterans of WWI suffering from shell shock. While they stay in nearby Daylesford, bodies start piling up. The suitors of local beauty Annie Tremain wind up dead in strange circumstances, and several of the town's married women have gone missing. And Phryne is not the only one looking into these mysteries. Back in St. Kilda, her wards, Jane, Ruth, and Tinker, investigate the drowning of a classmate with the help of Dot's fiancé, Sergeant Hugh Collins. This is the most complicated tapestry Greenwood has woven for Phryne yet, but all parties are up for the challenge. The real star is the fabulous Phryne, with her Jazz Age fashions, devil-may-care attitude, and dry narrative wit. Fans of the popular Australian TV show based on the series will find much to love here, and Phryne's adventurous readers will be glad she has returned.