Her creator says "Phryne is a hero, just like James Bond or the Saint, but with fewer product endorsements and a better class of lovers. I decided to try a female hero and made her as free as a male hero, to see what she would do. Mind you, at that time I only thought there would be two books."
Greenwood meticulously researches everything she writes, but always manages to assimilate her erudition into the text, rather than bopping the reader over the head with a giant 'I researched this fact' sign. She conveys a marvellous sense of time and place without shouting "Melbourne! Melbourne! We're in Melbourne, Australia!" or "Did I mention that it's 1928? Did I?" in the way that lesser writers are wont to do. In Phryne she has captured an independent woman with modern mores, but who is wholly of her time and class, rather than inserting a contemporary heroine into the past.
I realise that I have so far written little about the brilliance of this series, and instead compared Greenwood to lesser writers, but that is because I am unable to do her justice with my own lackluster prose. Lynn and I save Greenwood novels for rare treats, and never read her during November, because it's just too crushing to even think about participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) when one's grasp so clearly falls short of Greenwoods' reach.
Okay, so on to Murder in the Dark! It's Christmas, and Phryne's been invited to the Last, Best Party of 1928, an extravagant four-day celebration held by the Templar twins, cool Isabella and golden Gerald. Phryne's decision to attend it sharpened by a series of threatening notes warning her off, one of which is accompanied by a live (and deadly) coral snake.
Leaving behind her faithful maid Dot, her married lover Lin Chung, and her adopted daughters Ruth and Jane, Phryne departs for Werribee Manor House and a host of unusual characters with secrets and unknown motives.
As always, Phryne connects with people from a diverse range of background and experience, making friends and enjoying renewed acquaintances. In the process of solving the mysteries of why someone so desperately wanted to keep her away, who is blackmailing Gerald, and why one of the manor rooms is haunted, Phryne partakes in an erotic karez, introduces an innocent to the joys of physical love, frees an imprisoned child, and restores a sorrowful Sapphic to happiness.
The first in this series, Cocaine Blues was magnificent - so much so that I then gorged myself and read the next nine books back to back before sorrowfully realising that I was now limited to each one as it was released. Phryne and her creator go from strength to strength, and I impatiently await the next installment. - Alex
When pursued though a wood by a satyr, make sure that you are captured near the softest available moss - Phryne Fisher
For Lynn's review of Murder in the Dark click here
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