Review: Flying Too High

In the previous Phryne Fisher book there were several references to Phryne being a pilot, but aviation played no role. The pilot references seemed like an add-on, so I'm pleased that in this volume we get to see Phryne in action: flying and wing-walking. Phryne is commissioned to find the murderer of a Melbourne tycoon. At the same time, she is also called to investigate a kidnapping.

As background to these two mysteries we get to see Phryne furnish her house and attend society functions, as she lives the glamorous life in 1920s Melbourne. Phryne is very much the "New Woman" of the 1920s- short hair, fashionable clothes, sexually liberated.

I like the approach of having two mysteries in the book, and as in the previous volume, 1920s Australia provides a fascinating setting. This was a quick and entertaining read, and I'll be reading more in the series.

Kerry Greenwood, Flying Too High (Poisoned Pen Press, 2007) ISBN: 1590583957