150-152. Introducing the Honorable Phryne Fisher by Kerry Greenwood
Publication: Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd (2010), ebook, ?pp / ISBN 9781742692371
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Read: November 12-18, 2011
Source: Singapore Public Library
Summary from Amazon:
Meet Phryne Fisher, the 1920s most elegant and irrepressible sleuth, in her first three adventures – bound together in one great value volume.
Our unflappable, unconventional and uninhibited heroine, The Honourable Phryne Fisher, leaves the tedium of English high society for Melbourne, Australia, and never looks back. In her first three adventures, she encounters communism, cocaine, kidnappers and murderers. Phryne handles everything- danger, excitement and love – with her inimitable panache and flair, and still finds a little time for discreet dalliances and delicious diversions.
Review
One of the interesting things about belonging to an international library is that sometimes they have books that are available in countries other than yours. For instance, the Phryne Fisher books are published in Australia, and while some of them are available in the US via Poisoned Pen Press most of them…aren’t. And I don’t think there are any ebooks available outside of Australia, either. However! because I have a Singapore Public Library membership, I got to read one of those ebooks here in the US, which is exciting and yet slightly weird. That book was an omnibus of the first three Phryne Fisher books: Cocaine Blues, Flying Too High, and Murder on the Ballarat Train.
The Phryne Fisher books are set in late 1920s Australia, and they star an intelligent, clever, witty, fashionable flapper named after a Greek courtesan. They aren’t cozy mysteries, despite what you may think because of the cover. They aren’t hardboiled, depressing books, either– there’s horrible stuff in them, including rape and pedophiles– but they’re fundamentally more light-hearted than you might think.
The mysteries themselves are quite entertaining. I do think sometimes that there are too MANY mysteries in one book, too many subplots alongside the main plotline, but it only really felt crowded in the second book. Normally all the plots live together harmoniously, and the mysteries fall together in a way that’s pretty clever. KG throws in a few red herrings just to make things more fun, but generally I think they’re pretty easy to figure out if you’re paying attention. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.
The author
The characters, meanwhile, are a lot of fun. There’s a TON of female characters, and they’re in the spotlight more than the male characters. Yay! Phryne herself is pretty interesting, not only because she’s a flapper but because she feels like a 1920s flapper, not like a modern sexually liberated woman. I mean, there are quite modern ideas about class and money and so on, but it still feels like the 1920s to me, for some reason. Possibly it’s the clothes– I don’t know. Phryne’s friends and employees aren’t as well fleshed out as Phryne is, but they’re fun to read about and sometimes they even come in handy for a mystery. I don’t think Phryne’s got a Watson sort of character, though her maid, Dot, does come close sometimes. I don’t know if every detective needs a Watson sidekick, but sometimes it’s nice.
The only thing I don’t like about the books is the way it treats GLBTQ people. It’s not ANTI-GLBTQ, but which I mean it’s not necessarily bigoted against them in any way. But there are several (confirmed) GLBTQ characters in these books and nearly all of them are horrible in some way. One lesbian character is a heart-of-coal prostitute who hates men so much it’s like flames on the side of her face. Another character who is, I think, asexual, is a drug-dealing murderer. There’s another lesbian character who’s a con artist and possible rapist! I just. Why?
The only “good” GLBTQ character isn’t even a confirmed lesbian, though she’s got the “lesbian haircut” so…I don’t know. It’s just disappointing that all the “obvious” GLBTQ characters are either murderers with black hearts or otherwise morally bankrupt.
Also, the cast of the Phryne Fisher books is really, really white. I don’t think there was one non-white person in any of these books, and I was looking! Doesn’t Australia have, like, a lot of Indigenous Australians and Asian people living there? And didn’t those people have jobs and stuff back in the 1920s? With all the time Phryne spends wandering around decrepit streets looking for clues, you’d think she’d run into someone who wasn’t the same skin tone as her.
So: problems with GLBTQ things, and problems with race. Problems with plot? There’s very few of those, actually, and despite the solution to the third book’s mystery being somewhat nuts, they’re very entertaining books. And Phryne is a fascinating detective if nothing else; she’s smart and she’s sexy and yet still mysterious, somehow. If you enjoy historical fiction and like mysteries, you’d no doubt like these books. Just keep in mind that it’s got flaws.
Rating
Really enjoyable, but it has some problems.
Buy
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Other reviews
book reports: “It’s interesting that while I didn’t find the mystery to be that difficult to solve, or even cared much about it, I was utterly intrigued by the setting. Greenwood packs a lot of details in this first book (the description of the clothes is fantastic) which is quite a feat given that the book isn’t really that long.”
an adventure in reading: “Phryne Fisher is the coolest detective ever. She’s got loads of money, and she does what she wants. Period. Cute young guy? Good for a romp in the hay, on her terms. Orphan girl found wandering on a train with amnesia? Take her home, adopt her, and send her to university, as all smart girls should have an education. Phryne takes in orphans and strays and kittens and lovers. Plus, she dresses well, enjoys a warm soothing bath, and insists on tea and drinks to warm the spirit.”
Notes
Hey! According to the website, the Phryne Fisher books are being made into a TV show! Exciting!
I suppose another problem with these books is that Phryne never has any repercussions for what she does. 1920s Melbourne is apparently really tolerant towards women who sleep around a lot, but even then there has to be a breaking point. For instance, in the second book, Phryne sleeps with a client’s daughter’s fiance. He’s an artist who sleeps with his models and his fiance knows about it, so apparently…it’s all okay? But surely having your boyfriend sleep with a model is something completely different from him sleeping with the person who’s keeping your brother from the death sentence, isn’t it? I mean. Am I right?
On her website, KG says that she wanted Phryne to be a James Bond sort of person, and as far as I know he never got yelled at for sleeping with people, so…maybe that explains it. But I still find it really tasteless– especially since right before sleeping with him Phryne had just befriended the woman! Ugh.
Footnotes
159. Dust and Shadow by 
120. The Fashion in Shrouds by 
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