The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions: The Ultimate Miss Phryne Fisher Story Collection

by Kerry Greenwood

Overview

The elegant Miss Phryne Fisher returns in this scintillating collection, featuring four new stories

The Honourable Phryne Fisher—she of the Lulu bob, cupid's bow lips, diamante garters, and pearl-handled pistol—is the 1920s' most elegant and irrepressible sleuth.

Miss Phryne Fisher is up to her stunning green eyes in intriguing crime in each of these entertaining, fun, and compulsively readable stories. Whether sniffing out the whereabouts of a priceless pilfered book, an heirloom locket, or a missing eight-year-old girl, Miss Fisher proves herself more than equal to the task—and always fashionably attired. With the ever-loyal Dot, the ingenious Mr. Butler, and all of Phryne's friends and household, the action is as fast as Phryne's wit and logic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728258874
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	05/17/2022
Series:	Phryne Fisher Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.93(d)

About the Author

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has degrees in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant. Kerry has written three series, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D’Arcy, is an award-winning children’s writer and has edited and contributed to several anthologies. The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry has written twenty books in this series with no sign yet of Miss Fisher hanging up her pearl-handled pistol. Kerry says that as long as people want to read them, she can keep writing them. In 2003 Kerry won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Association.

Editorial Reviews

03/28/2022

The 15 1920s-era stories in this welcome collection from Australian author Greenwood (Out of the Black Land) will delight fans of Miss Phryne Fisher, who indulges in “Sherlockery” for Melbourne’s citizenry when she’s not indulging her passion for “food, sleep, intellectual puzzles, clothes and beautiful young men.” Highlights include “Marrying the Bookie’s Daughter,” in which Miss Fisher intervenes unexpectedly at a society wedding; “The Boxer,” in which Mrs. Ragne, who “was wrapped up so tightly in furs and a sense of personal grievance that she resembled a polar bear with a hangover,” asks the detective to find her eight-year-old granddaughter; and “Come Sable Night,” in which a flagrant lothario dies, but was it an allergic reaction to a bee sting or was it murder? Never mind that the mysteries are simple and sometimes silly. These tales are studded with slyly witty observation and are the perfect place to enjoy a few hours in the company of a favorite sleuth who dispenses justice in her own inimitable way. This volume is a fine companion to the 21 novels featuring this dashing protagonist. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"A delightful collection of short stories…highlight the many sides that have made the heroine popular to both readers and TV audiences." — Kirkus Reviews

"As always, the star of the show isn’t the crime; it’s Phryne herself. She’s outspoken, bawdy, streetwise, elegant, and absolutely impossible not to love. Fans of the long-running Fisher series or its television adaptation will really enjoy these bite-size adventures." — Booklist

"The 15 1920s-era stories in this welcome collection from Australian author Greenwood will delight fans of Miss Phryne Fisher, who indulges in 'Sherlockery' for Melbourne’s citizenry when she’s not indulging her passion for 'food, sleep, intellectual puzzles, clothes and beautiful young men'...This volume is a fine companion to the 21 novels featuring this dashing protagonist." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

Fans will be absolutely delighted by this collection of short stories featuring the irrepressible Phryne Fisher. Narrator Wendy Bos brings the sultry, smart, sophisticated lady detective to life. Bos successfully differentiates the multitude of characters, male and female, young and old. She is in step with Greenwood’s witty dialogue and detailed descriptions of luxurious clothes, delectable food, and fine young men. In the introduction Greenwood shares the origins of her protagonist’s unusual name and discusses her own writing process. The audiobook ends with a glossary of slang words and foreign phrases specific to the time period—interesting but perhaps more useful in print form. This is a totally engaging listen. E.Q. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2021 - AudioFile

2022-02-08
A delightful collection of short stories featuring the indomitable Miss Phryne Fisher of Melbourne.

Phryne grew up poor, inherited a fortune and a title, and resolved to live as she wished. A clever detective who can relate to people of any social status, she’s brave and sexually adventurous in these stories set in the late 1920s. In “Hotel Splendide,” she helps Mrs. Johnson, a desperate Australian wife, find her husband, a Paris hotel room that doesn’t exist, and a motive for an odd crime. She solves a murder at a party at her own home when she mistakenly invites two brothers at odds over an inheritance. When one of her many lovers wants to marry her, the fiercely independent Phryne isn’t interested, but she’ll happily investigate a jewel theft for a vulgarian and help out the meek woman under his thumb. Phryne takes on amusing cases like “The Vanishing of Jock McHale’s Hat” and “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and nasty cases of blackmail. Many of her villains are despicable bullies and wife beaters, and while she'll solve their murders, she'll keep the perpetrators to herself if she feels they were justified. A book stolen at a college provides a case that highlights her intelligence. In “Carnival,” her social conscience comes to the fore when her rather dim escort has his mother’s bracelet stolen, and she must solve the theft to save the carnies, who are often scapegoated as thieves.

These stories highlight the many sides that have made the heroine popular to both readers and TV audiences.

Kirkus Reviews