From the Publisher
About the Author:
Kerry Greenwood is the author of seventeen novels and the editor of two collections. She is also the author of several books for young adults and the Delphic Women series. When she is not writing she is an advocate in Magistrates' Courts for the Legal Aid Commission. She is not married, has no children and lives with a registered Wizard.
City Weekly
I loved this book.... its central character is a cool, elegant, sharply
intelligent female sleuth called Phryne Fisher, whose glamour belies the
fact that she is both fierce and fiercely independent.
Adelaide Advertiser
Phryne infiltrates the staff of Women's Choice with all the aplomb of Lord
Peter Wimsey taking on the advertising game, casually dispensing balm to
fragile egos and down-to-earth fashion advice while she penetrates the
secrets of the magazine's agony page and follows a tortuous trail of clues
to a suitably unexpected conclusion.
Weekend Australian
Phryne Fisher is a character whose personality falls somewhere between
gentle femininity and hard-boiled forensic capabilities. It is a combination
which celebrates the emerging individual women of the 1920s.
Publishers Weekly
In this low-key debut, set in 1950, John McIntire, retired military intelligence officer and newly appointed township constable, has to investigate the death of a boyhood friend, Nels Bertelson, in their hometown of St. Adele on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A fisherman of Norwegian stock, Bertelson is found dead on his boat his pants down, a syringe at his feet apparently from a bee sting, to which he was highly allergic. It looks like Bertelson tried to give himself an injection of epinephrine, without success. The antidote vial, however, is missing. Everyone is satisfied with the verdict of a natural death, except McIntire. Bertelson grew up to become a quarrelsome man, who argued with just about everybody, but did anyone hate him enough to kill? McIntire does have a suspect, a troubled young man, David Slocum, who was known to have fought with Bertelson and has since gone missing. Another unlikely victim is Cindy Culver, an adolescent femme fatale, whose strangled body was seen in the woods but then disappears. Convinced that the two murders are connected, McIntire mulls everything over interminably, when not engaged in endless chat that does little to further the action. Hill nicely captures the color and feel of the Michigan wilderness, but bland characters and a less than compelling plot don't generate much excitement or suspense. Hopefully, future cases in this series will have more zing. (July 1) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
"Hills nicely captures the color and feel of the Michigan wilderness . . . " (Publishers Weekly)
Library Journal
After living 30 years or more in England, John McIntire returns to 1950s St. Adele, MI, where he takes on the job of constable. Usually lacking for significant cases, he finds his intellect challenged by the apparent accidental death (owing to an allergic reaction) of an old school chum on his fishing boat. Several details bother John, who begins an investigation even before the coroner concedes the possibility of murder. Crisp prose, fanciful plotting, and an emphasis on character, descriptive detail, and Scandinavian influence make this debut mystery well worth reading. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
In 1920s Melbourne, an emancipated sleuth solves a murder at a woman's magazine and rescues her shanghaied lover. As Rosebud Peachblossom, Marcella Lavender wrote and illustrated books for children and did similar work for the magazine Women's Choice. But her personality was far from winsome, and now her maid Mercy has found her stiffening at the breakfast table. Police inspector Jack Robinson again solicits the help of elegant investigator Phryne Fisher, who goes undercover at the magazine, inheriting much of Miss Lavender's workload, in order to focuses on her coworkers, a colorful group untouched by grief. The field of suspects widens when Phryne finds a host of angry letters to Artemis, under which sobriquet Miss Lavender wrote an advice column. She takes gossipy Miss Prout to lunch at the Adventuress Club to pump her for information about her colleagues. Meanwhile, Phryne's lover Lin Chung hasn't returned from a Chinese silk-buying trip or contacted her. His disapproving family offers neither help nor support, even after she learns he's been kidnapped. Phryne undertakes a daring maritime rescue before returning to Women's Choice to expose the killer. Greenwood (Murder at Montparnasse, not reviewed, etc.) crafts a passable whodunit, but terrific historic color (complete with a three-page bibliography) and the blithe proto-feminist heroine are the real highlights here.
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