Spotlight on: Phryne Fisher Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood

Set in Melbourne in the late 1920's, the Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood feature the delightful Lady Phryne Fisher, an independently wealthy, strong willed, fun loving young woman having a ball during the decadent time that was the late 1920's.











Whilst Phryne (pronounced Fry-knee as in rhymes with briny) is now a very wealthy young lady around town, she hasn't forgotten her humble beginnings and childhood when her family were very poor. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that her father inherited a title as a result of the death of the other people in line during WWI, she would be living a very different life. Phryne remembers exactly what it was like to struggle to find the next meal, and to wonder where money is going to come from, and she therefore has a great deal of empathy for many of the poor souls that she comes across in her work, to the extent that several of them find a place in her permanent household.


Phryne excels at living her life to the fullest...whatever that means. She has a penchant for danger, champagne, beautiful clothes, dancing and beautiful young men, and sees fit to indulge whenever she can, and always manages to track down the villains...no matter what kind of case she is investigating!



For me, one of the great joys of reading this series is to read the descriptions of Melbourne (which is where I live) as it was back then. In the last book I read, Greenwood described passing the fields between Preston and Reservoir - these two places are suburbs of Melbourne, and if you try to drive between the two of them, all you will find is traffic, shops and houses - no countryside left at all in that part of town!

The most recently released covers in the series really capture the personality of the main character and are gorgeous to look at!



The books in the series so far are:

Cocaine Blues
Flying Too High
Murder on the Ballarat Train
Death At Victoria Dock
The Green Mill Murder
Blood and Circuses
Ruddy Gore
Urn Burial
Raisins and Almonds
Death Before Wicket
Away with the Fairies
Murder in Montparnasse
The Castlemaine Murders
Queen of the Flowers
Death by Water
Murder in the Dark