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"Murder on the Ballarat Train" by Kerry Greenwood is numero tres in the Phryne Fisher series that I started reading Monday. The library in my village had it not, but as I needed to grocery shop in Baldwin, a village or two over, I checked their liberry and lo and behold! They had this and only this volume in the series. Apparently the county likes to make reading an entire series into a treasure hunt.

Now, I get the whole terse and concise quiz when writing hard-boiled fiction. But why use it in these books, and to the point of being taciturn? Pages one through five, for example, take place in the first class carriage of the train to a place called Ballarat, filled with people who have been chloroformed for no obvious reason. Why is Phryne, the saviour (oh dear, oh dear, I'm coming all over Aussie) of all and sundry, on the train with Dot, her faithful Watsoness? What does an Aussie train carriage from the 1920s look like, who is on a train that's apparently taking an overnight trip, blah blah blah? None of these questions is addressed, still less answered.

The police in the State of Victoria appear, to a man, to be in thrall to Phryne's pheromonal field, allowing her to see evidence, trample crime scenes, interview witnesses, blah blah blah. The court system of the State of Victoria appears to have the greatest possible respect for the Honourable (oh oh, more misspelling a la Oz!) Phryne because it allows her, without demur or even so much as a meet'n'greet, to take serious legal steps.

Now, shoehorning two mysteries into 151pp is no small feat. Greenwood does this. She is, obviously and welcomely, growing in her craft with each outing. But what the hell does the sheila have against exposition?!? It can be done, and done well, and it can make or break an otherwise incredible story.

Characters from the first two books appear like mushrooms after a rain, and several new and obviously intended to be recurring characters are introduced. This does give the series the charm of feeling like one is involved in the life of the series. It's a trick that works brilliantly for Southern States writers like Charlaine Harris and Joan Hess. One character from the end of the previous book, "Flying Too High", appears again, to my discomfort and mild displeasure. I feel that I should caution parents of girls that some of Greenwood's recurring plotlines will cause you discomfort and should be brought to your attention early on. I do not encourage the very sensitively constructed to read this particular installment of the series.

But I, for reasons I can't yet fathom, want to keep reading these cocktail peanut books, and have in my moistly fumbling fingers books four, five and six of the series. So I guess it would be hypocritical to not recommend "Murder on the Ballarat Train", subject to the parent/sensitive caution given above. ( )

Very short book. I enjoy them for the light reading they are, but they aren't worth the price unless I can find them in second-hand shops. ( )

The third installment of the Phryne Fisher series Murder on the Ballarat Train begins quite literally, with a bang, when Phryne decides to leave Melbourne with her trusty and reliable companion Dot, and travels by train leaving behind her beautiful, fast Hispano-Suiza. Some sinister plot is afoot and Phryne has to shoot out the window of a train compartment to save the passengers.

Thus begins the highly amusing investigation into an old lady's murder and a child's background suffering from amnesia and now given into Phryne's care. As the two previous books in the series, the story is vastly entertaining and Phryne solves the cases with her usual flair and common sense. The cast of secondary characters is growing and they are immensely likable, as is the heroine. I would definitely recommend reading the series in their publishing order as each of the characters becomes more rounded and a full picture begins to build. ( )

http://www.cozylibrary.com/default.as... ( )