TV News: The Doctor Blake Mysteries on BBC One

I'm very much enjoying Australian series The Miss Fisher Mysteries on Alibi (based on Kerry Greenwood's books) and now BBC One are to show The Doctor Blake Mysteries featuring Craig McLachlan as Doctor Lucien Blake, and set in 1959 Ballarat. There are ten episodes and they will be on daily Monday to Friday at 2.15pm. The first episode, Still Waters, is on Monday 25th November:

A body found in the lake turns out to be a girl from the local reform school. Lawson immediately suspects a gang of local hoodlums who have connections to the girl and gets Constable Parks to make an arrest. Lawson's ready to charge him, but Blake isn't convinced and together he and district nurse Mattie O'Brien to find out more about the reform school and the girl.

The official series website is here and a second series is being filmed.

TV News: The Return of Miss Phryne Fisher

The second series of the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries begins next week on 1 October at 10pm on Alibi. The first of the thirteen episodes is titled Murder Most Scandalous. Kerry Greenwood's heroine Phryne Fisher has appeared in twenty books so far with the first book in the series having been published under three titles: Cocaine Blues, Murder by Misadventure and most recently Miss Phyrne Fisher Investigates.

From Alibi's website:

Miss Phryne Fisher is back to solve crimes and secure justice with her unique style and sophistication.

The second series of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries follows the independent and unflappable leading lady detective Phryne Fisher in an opulent take on the traditional crime drama exploring the fascinating ‘between-the-wars’ era of 1920s Melbourne.

From the shadowy lanes of the city to the halls of academia, from high-class brothels to haute couture, Miss Fisher defends the innocent and juggles admirers with her usual panache, all the while keeping up her delicious dance around Detective Inspector Jack Robinson.

In the opening episode, Jack's ex father-in-law, Deputy Commissioner George Sanderson, is implicated in the brutal crime, but is determined to clear his name. Despite strict instructions from Jack not to meddle in his case – which also reintroduces Jack’s ex-wife, Rosie - Phryne decides to perfect her ‘fan dance’ in order to go undercover at the gentleman’s club of the notorious Madam Lyon…

TV News: Doctor Blake & Miss Fisher Mysteries

Australian blog, TV Tonight, has announced that BBC One has bought the Doctor Blake Mysteries to show during the daytime later this year.

Doctor Blake stars Craig McLachlan and is set 1959 Ballarat. The first series is ten episodes and a second series begins shooting in July.

TV Tonight also confirms that Alibi have bought the second series of the Miss Fisher Mysteries which is to be shown in Australia this year.

TV News: Jack Irish on FX (UK)

Jack Irish starring Guy Pearce, based on the novels by Australian author Peter Temple begins on Friday 14 at 9PM on FX,with the first of two feature-length episodes: Bad Debts, followed a week later by Black Tide.

Jack Irish (Guy Pearce) is a man getting his life back together again.

A former criminal lawyer whose world imploded, he now spends his days as a part-time investigator, debt collector, apprentice cabinet maker, punter and sometime lover – the complete man really.

An expert in finding those who don’t want to be found – dead or alive, Jack helps out his mates while avoiding the past.

That is until the past finds him…

Find out more about the series at the ABC website.

It is likely that books three and four, Dead Point and White Dog will also get the same treatment.

As well as the 'Jack Irish' novels, Peter Temple has written the CWA Dagger Award-winning The Broken Shore, and Truth.

Kerry Greenwood - published in the UK

Australian author Kerry Greenwood is probably better known for her Phryne Fisher series than her "Earthly Delights" series but it's the latter which has just made its debut in the UK. Orion have just published Trick or Treat, the fourth (groan) and latest in the series featuring baker Corinna Chapman.

Synopsis: When a cut-price franchise bakery opens its doors just down the street from Earthly Delights and crowds flock to purchase the bread, Corinna Chapman is understandably nervous. Meanwhile, the gorgeous Daniel's old friend Georgiana Hope has temporarily set up residence in his house, and it doesn't take Corinna long to work out that she's tall, blonde, gorgeous and up to something. Daniel is making excuses and Corinna is worried about his absences and also the strange outbreak of madness which seems to be centred on Lonsdale Street.

Will Corinna win through a maze of health regulations, missing boyfriends, sinister strangers, fraudulent companies and back-alley ambushes? Or will this be the end for the Earthly Delights Bakery?

You can read more about the books and Corinna at the Earthly Delights website. Unfortunately the link to the Phryne Fisher site isn't working at the moment.

The right honourable Phryne Fisher is a flapper who has moved from England to Australia and gets into all sorts of scrapes. She has a gun, fast cars, planes and numerous lovers. I've only read the early ones but I have quite a few more in my tbr which I bought direct from Australia. More recently, this series has been published in the US by Poisoned Pen Press. (The covers are gorgeous).

Hopefully Orion will publish the earlier Corinna Chapman books and the Phryne Fisher books at some point. (I had thought they'd begun with the Phryne books but it seems I was mistaken).

I await the purchase of Trick or Treat by a library near me :).