1989 historical detection, first in Greenwood's Phryne Fisher series
(1920s flapper detective in Australia). Intelligent, beautiful, rich,
and bored, the Hon. Phryne Fisher travels to Australia in order to
find out whether John Andrews is poisoning his wife, her clients'
daughter.
Before the matter is resolved, she'll have dealt with
abortionists, drug dealers, communists, and a pleasingly attractive
Russian dancer called Sasha. Though really, to be fair, the mystery is
not the point of this book, though it's handled well enough: it's more
of an excuse on which to string tales of Melbourne in the 1920s.
Phryne herself is largely an iconic character, changing in herself
only insofar as she decides to stay in Australia and be a detective by
the end of the book; she is more prone to produce change in the people
she deals with, and has a boundless energy that's sometimes tiring
just to read about, but is never overconfident. Pacing is a little
uneven, with a fairly slow start (introducing many of the recurring
characters of the series, all reaonably developed and interesting, but
it does take time) and a second half that gathers pace into the
climax.
The book is basically fluff, but it's enjoyable fluff, in a short book
that doesn't wear out its welcome. Followed by Flying Too High.
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