Review: Cocaine Blues

In 1920s Melbourne pilot and daredevil Phryne Fisher is employed ot investigate a young woman's mysterious illness. It seems that her husband might be slowly poisoning her. Fisher camps out in a luxury hotel and befriends a couple of precocious cabbies, who help her solve the mystery. Quickly Phryne is drawn into the Melbourne underworld, looking to uncover the source of the cocaine trade, as well as an illegal abortionist who is butchering young women.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, and I was pleasantly surprised. The characters are delightfully eccentric. Phryne gets up to all sorts of antics, and there are plenty of descriptions of 1920s high society. The mystery was also intriguing, as there was no one obvious suspect. Overall, I found this book to be quite satisfactory, and I will read more of the series.

Kerry Greenwood, Cocaine Blues (Poisoned Pen Press, 2007) ISBN: 159058385X 

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