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Murder in the dark : a Phryne Fisher mystery /

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Greenwood, Kerry. Phryne Fisher mystery ; Publisher: Scottsdale, AZ : Poisoned Pen Press, 2008Manufacturer: 2017Description: 262 pages ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781464208201
  • 1464208204
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • Mys Greenwood Kerry
Summary: Phryne Fisher must save the attendants of 1928's most stylish party from murder in this Australian caper.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Home library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Standard Loan Blanchard Library Adult Fiction Blanchard Library Book F GREENWO (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 50610023235364
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, now streaming on Netflix, starring Essie Davis as the honourable Phryne Fisher

"One of the most exciting and dangerous of the adventures into which Phryne's fabulous and risky lifestyle has led her" --Kirkus Reviews

It's Christmas, and Phryne has an invitation to the Last Best party of 1928, a four-day extravaganza being hosted at the Werribee Manor House by the Golden Twins, Isabella and Gerald Templar. Phryne is of two minds about going. But when threats begin arriving in the mail, she promptly decides to accept the invitation. No one tells Phryne Fisher what to do.

At the Manor House, she is accommodated in the Iris room. At the party she dallies with two polo-playing women, a Goat lady (and goat), a large number of glamourous young men, and an extremely rude child called Tarquin.

The acolytes of the golden twins are smoking hashish and dreaming. The jazz is hot and the drinks are cold. Heaven. Until three people are kidnapped, one of them the abominable child. Phryne must puzzle through the cryptic clues of the scavenger hunt to retrieve the hostages and save the party from further disaster.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-262).

Phryne Fisher must save the attendants of 1928's most stylish party from murder in this Australian caper.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Australian author Greenwood's fine Phryne Fisher mystery combines suspense and humor with a taut race to unmask a master assassin before he can strike again. The irrepressible and defiantly unflappable Phryne Fisher decides to attend a lavish four-day celebration in Melbourne, "the Last Best Party of 1928," despite anonymous and deadly warnings to keep away, which include a coral snake. One of the party's hosts, Gerald Templar, becomes worried after Tarquin, the orphan boy he's adopted, disappears. The connection between Tarquin's vanishing and the escalating acts of violence from the killer who calls himself the Joker is far from obvious, and Fisher has no shortage of suspects to consider among the eccentric guests, including a man who's modeled himself on Oscar Wilde. The Joker's identity will surprise many readers, but as usual for this long-running series (Cocaine Blues, etc.), the major pleasures come from Greenwood's wry voice and the larger-than-life Fisher. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Phryne Fisher, the irrepressible Australian flapper-cum-amateur-sleuth, returns for another adventure. It's the Christmas season, and Phryne's been invited to a big party. She doesn't plan on attending, but when somebody starts sending her nasty letters telling her she'd better not show up, well, she's just gotta go. Regular readers of this entertaining series won't be surprised to learn that something bad soon happens (three people are kidnapped, to be specific), or that Phryne is soon knee-deep in mystery and mayhem. The sixteenth Fisher novel has all the qualities of its forerunners: a snazzy, jazzy, outspoken heroine; a cast of engaging supporting players; and a sharply plotted mystery. As usual, too, the author vividly creates the setting 1920s-era Melbourne and really makes us feel as though we've spent some time there. Another strong entry in a consistently entertaining series.--Pitt, David Copyright 2009 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A party invitation leads Phryne Fisher, liberated woman and amateur sleuth, on a hunt for a ruthless killer. Enjoying the Christmas season with her extended family and her lover Lin Chung, Phryne (Death Before Wicket, 2008, etc.) wonders whether to accept the invitation to the Last Best Party of 1928. Her mind is made up by the arrival of a deadly snake disguised as a Christmas gift and a note suggesting she forego the party. Never one to be cowed, Phryne journeys to the rented estate of Gerald and Isabella Templar, an extravagantly comely brother and sister who, having invested most of their fortune on wild parties in Europe, are continuing their raffish ways in Australia. Isabella's pet, a lovely girl child, has already disappeared, and soon after Phryne's arrival, Gerald's Tarquin, a beautiful and obnoxious young boy, goes missing as well. Hooking up with Nicholas Booth, a handsome young man whom she suspects is a policeman, Phryne wends her way through fabulous dinners and scandalous hashish-fueled entertainments looking for an assassin hired to kill the golden pair. Taunted by a trail of written puzzles, she follows the clues, makes friends with the staff, and relies on some toughs sent by her friends as back-up. Phryne and Nicholas both face death before the final pieces fall into place. One of the most exciting and dangerous of the adventures into which Phryne's fabulous and risky lifestyle have led her. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has degrees in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant. Kerry has written three series, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D'Arcy, is an award-winning children's writer and has edited and contributed to several anthologies. The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry has written twenty books in this series with no sign yet of Miss Fisher hanging up her pearl-handled pistol. Kerry says that as long as people want to read them, she can keep writing them. In 2003 Kerry won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Association.

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