Review by Booklist Review
Australian flapper and sometime private detective Phryne Fisher returns to save the day once more. A man collapses and dies in a bookstore, and the store's well-liked owner is arrested on suspicion of serving him tea laced with strychnine. Police, led by the affable detective inspector Jack Robinson, see it is a typical spurned-lover case (woman, rejected, gets revenge), but her friends don't buy it. Neither does Phryne, who plunges in headfirst and almost immediately discovers that this seemingly simple case is far from it. The Fisher mysteries are entertaining on multiple levels, from their setting (1920s Australia, only Phryne occasionally travels); to their story lines, which are never what they seem; to their lively characters, led by the delightful, engaging, straight-talking Phryne. The Phryne novels have been appearing in the U.S. at a rapid rate over the last several years, and the series has gained tremendous word-of-mouth recognition. It's definitely A-list material for all fans of historical mysteries.--Pitt, David Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The mysterious strychnine poisoning of scholarly Jewish immigrant Simon Michaels leads to one of the more complex and somber cases in the career of Greenwood's Australian Jazz Age amateur sleuth Phryne Fisher (Urn Burial, etc.). Fearing that the killing may signal a rise in anti-Semitism, affluent community leader Benjamin Abrahams hires Fisher to clear the name of his tenant, bookseller Sylvia Lee. Fisher, only slightly distracted by Benjamin's devastatingly handsome son, quickly exonerates Lee and dashes off in pursuit of the theory that Michaels was killed for a coded message that might be related to the local Zionist movement. Compared with some of the other entries in Greenwood's popular series, the mood is more serious and the identity of the murderer more mysterious, but fans will have no cause for complaint. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Australian social pillar Phryne Fisher's penchant for offbeat lovers involves her in a case that requires the close study of Judaism. Anyone would enjoy dancing with handsome young Simon Abrahams. But that tango isn't close enough for Simon's wealthy father, who wants Phryne Fisher (The Green Mill Murder, 2007, etc.) to investigate the arsenic death of a young student in a bookshop owned by Sylvia Lee, the suspect arrested by Phryne's pal DI Jack Robinson. With the help of her companion Dot, Phryne quickly satisfies herself that Miss Lee is innocent and that the student was killed while looking for something hidden in a book at her shop. The victim has left behind papers written in an obscure Hebrew code and pictures that relate to alchemy. In order to interpret them, Phryne must immerse herself in a world foreign to her, picking up a little Yiddish, interviewing students and a rabbi, learning about refugees, pogroms and Zionism, and along the way enjoying chicken soup and gefilte fish. Since someone clearly feels the information in the coded message is worth killing for, Phryne and her friends, old and new, must crack the code. The clever heroine manages to carry on an affair with Simon, placate his doting mother, improve her knowledge of all things Jewish and ultimately solve a tricky and dangerous case. Another smashing tale of mystery and manners between the world wars. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
