Phryne Fisher

It's almost impossible now to read these books and not have visions of the perfect Essie Davies as Phryne in the TV series wafting elegantly before your eyes. Which actually enhances the storylines as, although always beautifully described and outlined by Greenwood, she now has a physicality and a more three dimensional feel. It also didn't hurt that the dialogue, which was always crisp, sharp, clever and funny, has a voice as well.

I sort of lost my way with the Phryne Fisher series somewhere back in the middle of what is now 19 books, and it was actually sharing the listening to the audio books with himself in the car that rekindled interest. It's too easy to forget the humour, and the gentle social commentary in these books, especially when the cover art and the blurbs often tend to suggest that there's something slightly on the cosy side about the series. Whilst the delivery might be cleverly on the lighter side, and the humour subtle and very tongue in cheek, the plotlines are often veering into non-cosy territory (as does Miss Fisher's love life), but possibly, to my memory, never quite so pointedly as in UNNATURAL HABITS.

For a book that's set in 1929 there's something depressingly current day about the main storyline - the mistreatment, abuse and exploitation of young girls. Girls who are the victims of rape, abuse, poverty, neglect or simply girls who made a mistake, they were abandoned to systems and organisations which, whilst carefully revealed in UNNATURAL HABITS, were obviously appalling. Whilst Greenwood is cautious in her revelations of details of what went on, there is no masking the revulsion and disapproval of the institutions and facilities that treated young women, and their babies with such awful cruelty. It's the restraint with which many of the observations are made that makes them all the more pointed.

As with all things Phryne however, this is not a single stream plot. In the search for missing young girls, Phryne encounters a variety of establishments and people from the "gentlemen-only" Blue Cat Club, to the farming commune of women in Bacchus Marsh, and a brush with the "middle-class" which seems to have the potential to derail Phryne more than any of society's "fringe dwellers" ever would. In a particularly satisfying sidebar, there's also the small matter of a vigilante anaesthetising and surgically, and very skilfully, sterilising serial women abusers.

Melbourne, and Greater Victoria, are always lovingly rendered in these books. There's obviously considerable research into the locations of the period, but the books never read as a geographical treatise. The action insinuates itself into the landscape of the time beautifully, the little details of what Phryne sees, and experiences, come alive for the reader, transporting you back, for example, to the fledgling Apple Orchards of Bacchus Marsh and surrounds.

As you'd expect, there is quite a bit of ladylike and very non-ladylike action in these books. Phryne commits acts of daring doing in order to save the day, ably assisted by her retinue of minions (now where have I heard that word before...). Her household continues to evolve, her wardrobe to beguile, and her Melbourne enchant. You can't help but foster a sneaking desire for an Adventuresses Club, to see the wonder of the Blue Cat Club, and the Block Arcade as it was then.

UNNATURAL HABITS, by dint of the subject matter that it tackles, seems to have headed off into slightly darker territory than previous books, but it does it elegantly, and with the same sense of wrongs to be righted, offences to be avenged, and life to be lived.

I really shouldn't get all impressed by a new cover, but having no idea whatsoever of who Essie Davis is, I was really pleased to see her popup on the re-release of Kerry Greenwood's first Phryne Fisher book COCAINE BLUES.  I think the casting people for the upcoming ABC TV series may just have done a very good job!

Re-releasing the books is an excellent idea, not just because of the TV tie in, but also because it gives old fans, as well as a new audience a chance to catch up with the opening onslaught of what is now up to 18 or something books, from which 13 episodes are being filmed.  Which is, however you look at it, an astounding number of books.  

COCAINE BLUES is the first book in the series, and it is going to be an excellent place to start for new readers - to find out why Phryne arrives back in Australia and becomes a private Detective, how she met up with and subsequently employs her companion / maid Dot and her initial encounters with Bert and Cec.  When the books were first released, I confess I was never 100% sure what to make of them, being as they are, substantially different from my normal reading material.  But I've now come to realise that part of the attraction of these books is their sense of humour, and their sheer escapism.  Now that I've got that idea firmly in my head, I have been going back and starting to reread the series as and when I can, and I am certainly coming to understand the attraction of them more clearly.  The TV tie in is just another impetus to keep going with that series revisit.

The Phryne Fisher series is really a combination of sexual frisson, dare-doing, glamorous clothes, outrageous behaviour and slightly manic plots always with Miss Fisher at centre stage, being wonderful, glorious, sexy and fabulous.  Light-hearted entertainment, these aren't books that you're going to be reading if you stay firmly on the darker side of crime fiction, but they are books that could work if you're more of a generalist - looking for something entertaining and amusing.  Perhaps they have to be read with tongue firmly pressed in cheek, lying on what passes as a chaise lounge in your part of the world; sipping a cocktail of some sort and idly wondering if you can even get hold of a Hispano-Suiza for less than it would cost to hock a whole family tree full of Nannas... but that's the whole point of these books.  Delightfully escapist, vaguely absurdist, wonderfully entertaining, Phryne Fisher will be appearing on your TV's very soon.  I'd take the chance to catch up with the series now as well if I were you.

Released in all their new finery will be:

February 2012:

Cocaine Blues
Murder on the Ballarat Train
The Green Mill Murder
Death at Victoria Dock
Raisins and Almonds
Ruddy Gore

March 2012:

Murder in the Montparnasse
Away with the Fairies
Queen of the Flowers
Blood and Circuses
Murder in the Dark