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This 17th in a wonderful historical cosy series set in the Melbourne of 1929 allows us to partake of the exploits of Miss Phryne Fisher, Investigator De Luxe, her friends and family, especially her companion Dot, cabbies Bert and Cec, and her surprising sister Eliza. And herein we are introduced to the redoubtable Mrs. Manifold and her deceased son Augustine; several wild Bright Young Things with bad taste and even worse manners; a Classics professor with style, and the quite obnoxious Bonnetti family. The obdurate Mrs. Manifold does not believe her beloved son Augustine killed himself and, thanks to her friend Eliza Fisher, comes to ask Phryne for help. What starts out as a simple case of probable suicide soon spirals into a quite fabulous storyline involving magic, drugs, treasures lost and found and lost again, and involves some truly disgusting young people, some of whom may have loved Augustine, and one of whom likely killed him. In the midst of all this, Phryne is given another rather interesting case, to find the illegitimate child of Madame Bonnetti, who died recently. She was the head of a very wealthy Melbourne family, and no one in the family seems to have known about the child previous to the reading of the will. They most definitely do not want this person to be found as this child would inherit a portion of the family fortune. Thankfully it is the lawyer for the old lady who hires Phryne; once she actually meets the nastier members of the Bonnetti family she becomes determined that she will not let the matter rest until she tracks down at least an answer, if not the actual living person. Of course Phryne ties everything up in both cases, and in a thrilling fashion too, but it is just this sense of familiarity that is becoming a bit annoying, although it's also comforting and the writing is still entertaining. Not quite going-through-the-paces as yet, and well-plotted, but sometimes it seems as if Ms. Greenwood is tiring a bit of Phryne, or simply at a loss as to how to proceed next. It's been a very long series, and she's kept it remarkably fresh and interesting up until the last couple of books by varying Phryne's accomplishments and skills, and slowly introducing a remarkable number of memorable characters over the many years. Although I fear Greenwood needs some sort of freshener to make things sparkle again, she does seem determined to continue ad infinitum, and I am, actually, quite glad of this - Phryne Fisher is one of my all-time favorite mystery characters. This latest novel may be of slightly lesser quality than some of the earlier books in the series, but it's still damned fine writing, well-plotted and twisted, excellently characterized and fairly well-paced. I'm happily anticipating the next to come. Wonder if, and how, The Crash of 1929 is going to affect Phryne?
Reviewed by Abbey Hamilton, September 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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