Review by Booklist Review
Australia, 1928. Phryne Fisher, the flamboyant flapper and amateur sleuth, has been chosen to be Queen of the Flowers for this year's Flower Parade. But, as loyal readers of this long-running series know, Phryne can't seem to do anything without landing herself in the midst of a mystery. This time she takes Rose, a troubled young woman, under her wing, and when Rose vanishes, Phryne embarks on a no-holds-barred campaign to find her. The charm of this series remains the way it connects the flapper era to contemporary life. Phryne is an outspoken, acid-tongued adventurer who won't take lip from anyone. She'd be right at home in a novel set in the present day, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun. Here she stands out deliciously from her surroundings (but, given her flapper characterization, she does so believably, never seeming anachronistic). Her interactions with the more conventional characters who surround her give the stories humor and pizzazz. This is a consistently strong series that shows no signs of running out of steam.--Pitt, David Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Crime strikes close to home in this latest installment of Greenwood's charming series (The Castlemaine Murders, etc.) featuring 1920s Aussie amateur sleuth, Phryne Fisher. While the town of St. Kilda prepares for the 1928 Flower Parade, Phryne's adopted daughter, Ruth, disappears after learning her father's identity from her birthmother, Anna Ross. Phryne adds Ruth to her caseload, which coincidentally includes the search for another missing young woman, Rose Weston. As with other series entries, the solution to the mystery is secondary to the author's clever prose and gift for characterization. Phryne carries the action ably, even if her resourcefulness and unflappability sometimes border on the superhuman. The engaging cast of familiar supporting characters--including Phryne's maid, Dot, and her Chinese lover, Lin Chung--will delight longtime fans, but newcomers who like their crime on the lighter side can jump in without any trouble. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
A missing flower maid and adopted daughter has flapper PI Phryne Fisher searching for answers during the festivities of St. Kilda's Flower Parade in the 14th title of the Australian series. Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award winner Greenwood lives in Australia. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Soigne Australian socialite detective Phryne Fisher tracks not one but two missing girls. Phryne has been appointed Queen of the Flowers for St. Kilda's flower parade and festival. Her four flower maidens are young woman of disparate temperament, and it takes all of Phryne's considerable skills to keep them in line. Rose Weston, from an old but mysterious background, appears to be living rather a fast life for a young girl of good family in 1928 Melbourne. At the same time, Phryne's adopted daughter Ruth returns from a visit to the sanatorium, where her birth mother is dying of tuberculosis, with new interest in the identity of her father. A traveling circus camping near Phryne's beachfront home brings her together with an old friend, elephant trainer Dulcie Fanshawe, and one of her many past lovers, James Murray of Orkney. When Rose goes missing, Phryne is hired by a friend of Rose's miserly grandfather to find her. In addition, she must hunt for Ruth, who seems to have run off. Friends and lovers past and present all have their parts to play as Phryne makes alternately pleasing and horrifying discoveries in her search for the missing young ladies. By no means the best of Phryne's long string of period mysteries (Death Before Wicket, 2008, etc.), but the delightfully outr heroine is always a pleasure to revisit. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
