Death In Daylesford by Kerry Greenwood. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2020.

 I really never expected a new Phryne Fisher novel since the last one, Murder And Mendelssohn, appeared in 2013, so what a pleasant surprise it is to see elegant 1920s sleuth Miss Fisher back again! 

It’s February 1929. Phryne Fisher and her faithful maid Dot are on a short holiday in spa town Daylesford and nearby Hepburn Springs, while Phryne checks out a retreat for shell-shocked soldiers run by a man who has asked her to donate. This being a Phryne Fisher mystery, there is, of course, murder - and disappearing women - and a kidnapping. The interesting thing about the murders is that they happen in public, in the middle of a crowd. 

Back in Melbourne Phryne’s three adopted children, Ruth, Jane and Tinker, are investigating a mystery of their own, when a schoolmate of the girls is found dead in the water. They investigate the death with the help of Dot’s fiancé, Detective Sergeant Hugh Collins, who has been left with a temporary, incompetent boss while Jack Robinson is seconded to another department. 

So, in this novel, familiar characters such as Jack, Bert and Cec appear only briefly, as does Phryne’s lover Lin Chung. But the book manages without them this time and it’s rather nice to have lesser characters take the stage in their own right instead of just assisting the heroine. There are usually two to three threads in any Phryne Fisher novel anyway; this time the second thread is not about her investigation. 

The film which was being made at coastal town Queenscliff in Dead Man’s Chest is shown at the local cinema in this novel, a nice touch. 

Death In Daylesford is much tighter-written than some of the other later books in this series. While anything by Kerry Greenwood is a delight, there were, for example, chunks of Dead Man’s Chest that could have been cut without damage to the novel, so good to see this. 

It has been a long time since the last Phryne Fisher novel, as the author has been unwell, and it was a pleasure to pick up where I left off with Murder And Mendelssohn. 

The Fisher novels are more or less stand alone, but it’s probably best to start with the early ones and read a few before reading this one. 

Available now at your favourite on line bookstore if you live in Australia, but not till June next year, alas, if you live elsewhere. Still, if you haven’t read the others in the series, this should give you time to catch up.