By Kerry Greenwood
Available on: Amazon, Audible, and Barnes and Noble.
Overview:
Blurb: When she finds herself rather bored with hum-drum England, the Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher decides to jump ship, a bit literally, to return to her homeland: Australia. Once there, she finds herself a few friends and a new maid. And then she finds a couple of communists, a few new and one old enemy, and nearly gets herself slightly murdered for being just a little curious about the king of cocaine in Melbourne. It’s the first book in a series and one I desperately wish to continue reading.
Trigger Warnings:
Bloodshed, Child Abuse, Death, Drug Use (Illicit), Drug Use (Non-Consensual), Drug Use (Prescription), Gun Violence, Infidelity, Murder, Non-Consensual Sex, Non-Consensual Touching, Off Screen Sex, On Screen Sex, Physical Abuse, Sexism, Sexual Abuse (mentioned), Sexual Assault (mention of), Unsafe Sex, Violence, Violent Imagery, War (Discussion of)
Body Count: 0
The Specs:
- Series:
- Series Name: A Phryne Fisher Mystery
- Book number: 1 of 20 and counting
- Genre
- Technical Genre: Mysteries, Amateur Sleuths, Australia
- Theo Genre: Adventure Lady!; Lady Detective
- Page count: 175 pages
- POV: Limited 3rd Person
- Publication information:
- Paperback page count: 175 pages
- Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; First Paperback Edition edition (March 1, 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 159058385X
- ISBN-13: 978-1590583852
Other Fun Stuff:
- To Read or Not To Read (Again):
- Bedside Bookshelf Donated Furniture Support
- Rating out of five: 4.5 out of 5
Representation and Sexism Tests:
- Bechdel–Wallace Test: PASS
- Do two female characters talk about something than a male character? YES NO
- DuVernay Test: FAIL
- Are there fully actualized characters of color? YES NO
- Ellen Willis Test: YES
- Would two related characters still work to carry the story if their genders were reversed? YES NO
- Mako Mori Test: PASS
- Is there a female character? YES NO
- Does she get her own arc? YES NO
- Does it do anything other than support a man’s story? YES NO
- Sexy Lamp Test: PASS
- Would the plot fall apart if the female character was replaced by a sexy looking lamp? Absolutely. Maybe? No.
- Vito Russo Test: PASS
- Is there a character on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum? YES NO
- Are they a character beyond their orientation? YES NO
- Do they affect the plot? YES NO
Overall review:
Thoughts: This is a series I will happily read the next 19 of…at some point. I really do want to read the next one immediately, as Phryne is well written and dear Dot just smacks of growth as a person. Dr. Mac is a sassy treat and the darling communists, Bert and Cec make for a fine foil for the polished and meek Dot. Detective Inspector Robinson is droll and enjoyable.
I quite enjoy the tone of Ms. Greenwood’s writings; Phryne’s smoking is a bit off-putting, but the character seems to hide many a dark memory behind her siren red smile. I look forward to the next book (or twenty) in the series.
Smutty moments/smut review: Most of it was light smut and naughty thoughts. Nothing x-rated, but the characters are described with such vivid detail, it’s easy to imagine.
Favorite passage: Sasha and Phryne’s dancing.
Was it engaging?:
Yes No At times Room for improvement Had to fight through it.
Favorite Character:
Phryne, of course!
Read as part of the 2019 Color Coded Reading Challenge!
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