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: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Almost a year after I first mentioned Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, the series, which is based on Kerry Greenwood's novels, gets its UK premiere on Alibi. The first episode, Cocaine Blues, is on Monday 11th at 10pm:

The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher began life in 1989 as the daring lady detective protagonist of a series of 18 crime books written by Australian author, Kerry Greenwood, and now she's brought to life in this stunning series. Phryne (pronounced Fry-nee) is a glamorous and thoroughly modern woman of the 1920s. Our lady sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of Melbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl-handled pistol and her dagger sharp wit.

After many years abroad, Phryne returns to Melbourne, in part to start a new life in her home town, but to also ensure that Murdoch Foyle (Nicholas Bell), the man thought to be responsible for her younger sister's mysterious disappearance, never gets out of jail. But before her very proper Aunt Prudence (Miriam Margolyes), a well-known society matriarch, can drag Phryne off to attend her first soiree, she finds herself embroiled in a murder.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Many years ago, in preparation for a holiday in Australia I managed to get hold of Kerry Greenwood's Cocaine Blues (apa Murder by Misadventure) which is the first in a long running series featuring 1920s flapper and private detective Phryne Fisher set in Melbourne. I picked up a few more of the series whilst in Australia and subsequently bought a few more online, when the pound:Australian dollar ratio was more favourable! ThouAgh Orion have published some of the later books, I wish that a UK publisher such as Allison & Busby Robinson would take the whole series on - as they have with Carola Dunn's, also 1920s set, Daisy Dalrymple series. Both series incidentally have the most beautiful covers.

A TV series has been made of the Phryne Fisher books, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries which begins in Australia on Friday, February 24, at 8.30pm on ABC1. We in the UK can only hope it gets picked up here.

TV tie-in Kindle editions are available on UK Kindle with Cocaine Blues being a bargain £1.32 at the moment and other in the series are around a fiver. (I haven't been able to check for epub availability as the Kobo site was down).

Phyrne is played by Essie Davies (and the series also stars Miriam Margolyes):

The opulent 13-part series, produced by Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox, is based on Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher crime novels, set in and around Melbourne during the late 1920s. Davis read most of Greenwood's 18 Phryne adventures not long after she was approached to audition. She immediately clicked with a heroine who is more Mata Hari than Miss Marple.

...read more about the series, listen to a review and watch a clip from the show at The Age.

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 :).

Flapper sleuths = pretty covers

This gorgeous cover for the paperback of Nicola Upson's An Expert in Murder caught my eye. Shame I've already read it. This is the first in the proposed series starring Josephine Tey and was reviewed on Euro Crime, here and here. The paperback is out in February. Though AEIM is set in the 1930s, the following series are set (or at least begin) in the 1920s:

Carola Dunn's Black Ship is out any day and is the 17th of the Daisy Dalrymple books.

Australian Kerry Greenwood has finally got a UK publisher (Orion) for her Honourable Phyrne Fisher series which saves me from importing them any more. Murder in the Dark is the 16th in the series and was published earlier this month (in the UK).

The Winter Ground is the fourth in the Dandy Gilver (society sleuth) series by Catriona McPherson and is due out next month. (Cover shown is from January's paperback edition.)