Review by Booklist Review
In the tenth Phryne Fisher novel, set in 1928 Australia, the free-thinking flapper is on holiday in Sydney. She's got her vacation all planned out cricket matches, dinner with the in-crowd, lots of dining and dancing but solving yet yet another mystery is not on the agenda. But that's before Phryne's maid's sister goes missing, and a university student is accused of breaking into the dean's safe. Soon enough, Phryne's dancing shoes are back in the suitcase, and she's up to her neck in murder, intrigue, and derring-do. Phryne's fans get everything they could possibly want from this installment in the long-running and ever more popular series: a fast-talking, tough heroine; an engaging cast of supporting players; a couple of really nifty mysteries; and plenty of fun. Phryne, who defiantly challenges every one of society's notions of a woman's place, is a riveting series lead, and luckily there are many more of her adventures still to come.--Pitt, David Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In one of Greenwood's stronger entries in her acclaimed series set in 1920s Australia (Ruddy Gore, etc.), her elegant, larger-than-life amateur sleuth Phryne Fisher travels on holiday from Melbourne to Sydney, where she confronts a pair of pressing mysteries as soon as she washes off the grime of her train trip. Joss Hart and Clarence Ottery, young gentlemen escorts who are students at the University of Sydney, ask Phryne to exonerate a friend accused of stealing exams from a safe in the dean's office. Then Phryne's maid, Dot Williams, discovers her sister, Joan, has disappeared, leaving two young children in the care of Joan's loutish husband. With typical aplomb, Phryne juggles both puzzles, even as she crosses swords with a sinister cult leader who may have at least some of the answers she seeks. The author artfully blends action, humor and deduction. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Phryne Fisher's holiday in Sydney becomes a dangerous investigation into a bizarre collection of academics and hangers-on. Every eye in bustling Sydney is on the harbor bridge under construction--except for those of Phryne Fisher and her maid Dot. Although she's looking forward to cricket and the Arts Ball, Phryne has agreed to investigate the theft of papers from a university safe at the behest of two students who believe their friend, a scholarship boy in whose carrel some stolen tests have been found, has been wrongly accused. An invitation to dine with the Chancellor gives Phryne an opportunity to meet several alternative suspects. Also on her to-do list is finding Dot's sister, who's left her two young children to the care of the furious husband who accuses her of whoring. Cruising some dubious nightclubs, Phryne picks up both information and enemies in the form of some practitioners of black magic and a fixer for a notorious madam. She savors life among the scholars, acquires a delightful new lover and enjoys cricket matches as she searches for Dot's sister and tries to figure out which of the seemingly innocuous objects in the safe the thief was really after. The change of scene and a hint of Dorothy L. Sayers gives the delightfully refreshing Phryne (Blood and Circuses, 2007, etc.) one of her best cases to date. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
