The carnival is in town, bringing old friends; several shady characters are looking for Rose--they are so vile the most vile bar has banned them; and Phryne is slated to be the Queen of the Flowers in the upcoming 1928 Flower Parade. Now, if only the Flower Girls would stop disappearing...
I have been watching the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries on Netflex as entertainment while hand appliqueing in the evening. The books are being published by Poison Pen Press and I thought it would be fun to read one.
Miss Phryne Fisher goes on the trail of her missing adopted daughter who has been searching for her birth father. Phryne is also hiding Rose, a girl who nearly drowned, and whose life is threatened. Phryne's investigations bring to light instances of abuse against girls, a professor's double life, and the workings of a gambling ship. The girls fight over a vacuous but angelic looking teen. All the gang appear: Dot and her beau Hugh, Detective Jack Robinson, Mr. and Mrs. Butler, and Bert and Cec, and of course the ravishing Lin Chung.
I enjoyed the humorous authorial asides such as "Phryne had rescued the girls from slavery at considerable trouble and expense." When Pyryne checks out a lead and is asked about it she replies that it was "Remarkably like being inside the Castle of Otronto without the giant hand, thought it might have put in an appearance later." I also loved her adage, "Guilt is a useless emotion and not to be indulged in."
I thought the book Phryne is very like the TV show one: well-heeled, confident, and nonplussed in the midst of danger. I did cringe a bit over her willingness to be considered her Chinese lover Linn's concubine ("Phryne, fortunately, liked being an amusement.") and her acceptance of prostitution as a welcomed career for impoverished girls.
It was an enjoyable, light read with wonderful historical ambiance and a definite Australian flair.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Queen of the Flowers: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries #14
by Kerry Greenwood
Poisoned Pen Press
Pub Date: Nov.7,2017
Paperback $15.95
ISBN: 9781464207785
From the publisher's website:
The circus is in town for St Kilda's first Flower Festival, which includes a parade. And who should be Queen of said Flowers but the Honourable Phryne Fisher? She has dresses to purchase, cinemas to visit, and agreeable cocktails to drink.
However, one of her flower maidens is unstable and has vanished. So Phryne investigates, trudging through the underworld with the help of Bert, Cec, her little beretta, an old flame from Orkney, the owner of the most exclusive brothel in St Kilda, and several elephants.
But when her own adopted daughter Ruth goes missing, Phryne is determined that nothing will stand in the way of her retrieving her lost child.
