I’ve just bought the very last Phryne Fisher novel, the last because Kerry Greenwood died earlier this year. I still haven’t read the last Terry Pratchett book because… well, it is the last one. But I decided to reread all the Phryne Fisher books before I read Murder In The Cathedral. So far, I’ve reread the first five and have started the sixth.
Some of you will have read them. But I’m going to comment anyway, for anyone who hasn’t, or who has only seen the TV series.
If you’ve only seen the TV series, it’s very different from the books. To be honest, I prefer the later episodes, which are not based on a book, because they aren’t trying to squash a novel into fifty minutes. But they look beautiful and are made by people who loved the books.
If you haven’t read or seen it, I promise no spoilers here! I did enjoy even the reread, and I have read nearly all of them several times. The earlier novels are, in my opinion, better than the later ones, but they are all worth a read.
Phryne Fisher is a beautiful, wealthy private detective in the late 1920s. She lives in St Kilda, a seaside suburb of Melbourne, with her maid Dot and Mr and Mrs Butler, her staff, and has adventures. No way does anyone need to rescue her - more often, she rescues others. She has a gorgeous red Hispano-Suiza car, which she drives like a demon. Dot really doesn’t enjoy travelling with her.
Cocaine Blues
Phryne Fisher, who was born in Australia but has been living in Europe(mostly England, but also France) returns to Australia on the request of a couple who are worried about their daughter, Lydia. They think her husband is trying to poison her. In this novel, we meet characters who will later become regulars or semi regulars. Dot, her maid, is one. She introduces herself as Dorothy Bryant, but becomes Williams later in the book and stays Williams for the rest of the series. An editorial glitch! Detective Inspector Jack Robinson is plain and easy to miss in the novels, but gorgeous in the TV series. He is happily married with children in the books, divorced in the TV series so that he can have a URST with Phryne. Bert and Cec are taxi drivers who become Phryne’s friends and assist with her cases. Dr Macmillan is a Scottish woman doctor, a semi regular.
As in her other books, there are two storylines. One is about cocaine peddling, the other is about illegal abortions. It’s a great start to the series.
Flying Too High
Again, two storylines. One is about a child being kidnapped, the other is about a pilot whose obnoxious father is hit on the head by a rock, leading to the son’s arrest for murder. Of course, Phryne is hired to investigate both.
She and Dot have moved into a house on the Esplanade in St Kilda, across the road from the beach. There, we first meet her house man, Mr Butler and his wife, Mrs Butler, a fabulous cook. The author loved writing about food, even gave recipes in the Corinna Chapman series, so Mrs Butler’s meals are described in loving detail.
Some semi regular characters first appear in this book. Bunji Ross is a brilliant pilot, but a humorous character. She appears again in later books.
The child’s rescue ends up at the Queenscliff Hotel. I used to go there by ferry, for lunch, when staying in Sorrento some years ago - just because I read about it in the novel. This story wasn’t filmed, unfortunately. It would have made a good episode
Murder On The Ballarat Train
Phryne and Dot are on their way to Ballarat by overnight train. You can get there now in about an hour and a half from Melbourne, but this is 1928. Phryne, who is a light sleeper, wakes to the smell of chloroform, and, of course, saves everyone in the first class carriage, by opening windows and calling for the conductors.
Everyone but an elderly woman, who has been dragged out of the window and hanged. The woman’s daughter hires Phryne to investigate.
This book features the first appearance of Phryne’s adopted daughters, Jane and Ruth, and her black cat Ember. In the TV series, they showed only Jane as a regular - Ruth appeared briefly but went back to her family. I guess they didn’t want to pay two child actors. It’s a pity, but there you are.
Death At Victoria Dock
Phryne is on her way home late one night when a young man is shot dead in front of her and the killers try to shoot her too. She doesn’t take this well and soon finds herself involved in Latvian affairs and anarchists. And a yummy Latvian lover…
A case she is asked to investigate is the disappearance of a teenage girl who wanted to be a nun. The girl’s family are horrible.
In this novel we first meet Hugh Collins, Dot’s boyfriend, who becomes a regular. In fact, he got more time in the TV series, where he was shown as Jack Robinson’s sidekick. But it’s nice to meet him. This was filmed, but not very close to the book. It was more about the dock workers on strike.
The Green Mill Murder
Phryne is dancing at the Green Mill, a real place that was on the site of Melbourne’s current Arts Centre, at the end of a dance marathon. Her dress is described in great detail, and that was real too. Kerry Greenwood said that in her day job as a lawyer a client had to bring his grandmother with him, and the old lady described a dress she once wore at a dance.
The dance marathon is near its end, with only a few couples left, so it’s not hard to notice when the man in the next couple drops dead during Bar 35 of “Bye Bye Blackbird”. Naturally Phryne has to investigate, though Detective Inspector Jack Robinson is also on the case. He has enough respect for her to accept that she probably has figured out the murderer and will share the information when she gets back from flying to Gippsland to find a young man who came back from the Great War with shell shock(what they called PTSD in those days).
There is a lot of jazz and blues in this novel, which includes an American blues singer with the band. When it was filmed, that role was played by Deni Hines, the daughter of Marcia Hines, who came to Australia to be in Jesus Christ Superstar, and stayed.
The second storyline involves the gay community, who had pretty difficult lives, as it was illegal in those days.
Phryne has two lovers in this story. In the seventh book, she finally gets a regular boyfriend. Stand by for my posts on the rest of the series.
No comments:
Post a Comment