|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Phryne Fisher, smart woman about town and experienced consulting detective, has recently returned home to Melbourne. Barely before she has time to take off her fashionable cloche hat, her friend Inspector Robinson has asked her to help on a puzzling case that needs a woman's touch. Miss Lavender, famous author of fairy stories, was found stone dead by the maid bringing her breakfast. It turns out that in addition to cranking out installments of 'Hilda and the Flower Fairies', Miss Lavender also served as the advice columnist for the suffragette magazine Women's Choice. Someone must have truly hated her advice, for among the swarms of winged creatures and relentless pink decor, Phryne has found several death threats. Soon Phryne is the new fashion editor for Women's Choice, discovering just how cut-throat the publishing business can be. In the meantime, her personal life has taken an unexpected turn. Her lover Lin Chung went on a business trip back to China to buy silks and no one has heard from him since. The Lin family, which usually prefers to ignore Chung's taste in women, is finally reduced to asking for Phryne's help. But if they need her, why are people wearing Lin livery suddenly trying to kill her? AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES is two separate stories in one book. The first story is a classic cozy circa 1928, full of fashion, food, and women's issues. This one is so restrained and veiled that abortion is referred to as "an illegal miscarriage." It was a delightful read full of historical detail, the rocky genesis of feminism, and the stresses of publishing, topped off with the most innovative method of murder I've ever seen. The second story is grimmer and appeals to a completely different type of reader. This plot -- the one that takes over the majority of the book regardless of the title -- is full of Chinese family dynamics, severed ears, messages carved into flesh, shao lin monks, pirates, and explicit sex. The plot pretty much follows any given summer blockbuster action movie, with lots of hustle and not a lot of logic. The end result is rather like reading about a tea party between Kwai Chang Caine and Miss Marple. Both stories are interesting and well told, but they mix like oil and water. Too graphic to be cozy, too prim to be total adventure, it's hard to know who to recommend this book to. And it should be recommended -- AWAY WITH THE FAIRIES is an engaging page turner that got me interested in reading other installments of Phryne's adventures. But this particular book is a puzzling chimera that would have better served as two separate novels.
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, December 2004
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
