The Green Mill Murder

Phryne flies high!

Phryne is attending a dance marathon at a jazz club with 'a tedious but socially acceptable escort', Charles Freeman. Tintagel Stone the band leader leader and banjo player has a delectable pair of blue eyes. The last two marathon couples are exhausted but still dancing. One stumbles and falls--never to rise again. Phryne is flung headlong into murder, blackmail, missing persons, and a brief liaison--or two, although lamenting from time to time her anarchist lover met in Death at Victoria Dock.
The story ranges from St Kilda to the Australian Alps. Flying with Phyrne in her Tiger Moth through that area, up through Mansfield and on to Mount Howitt plains were highlights of the story. Having walked some of this area I was show more instantly transported back there, to the sights, smells and sounds. Thank you Kerry Greenwood! As Phyrne reflects when walking to a hut, 'this cold wilderness was utterly unfamiliar, but it did not feel hostile, just indifferent to her fate. If she fell off this path and was broken into a hundred pieces nothing up here would be one whit interested.'
Here are places where some find solace and others inspiration. The descriptions of this part of the world and the people, priceless! As Phyne says, 'they did not talk much and therefore liked to give every word its proper weight. She reflected that a writer might find this touching. Words were seldom given the respect they deserved.' (I loved this last sentiment)
The war references--Gallipoli and Pozières, and the effect of these battles on the veterans as always are stark reminders of the costs paid.
Enjoyable as always.

A NetGalley ARC show less

The Hon. Phryne Fisher loves to dance, but is non-plussed when a fellow dancer drops dead near her feet and her erstwhile partner makes a dash for it claiming to fear the sight of blood, although she is cheered by the soon-to-be close acquaintance with the handsome band leader. Soon her dance partner’s mother has hired Phryne to find the young man, then also to find his older brother, a shell-shock victim who disappeared into the remote mountains years ago. To find the latter, Phryne must once again take to the skies, but flying over mountains proves to be much more difficult than she thought…. After feeling a bit less enthusiastic about this series with the fourth entry, this fifth book has restored my faith in Phryne, both in show more terms of adventure, novelty (I didn’t know there *were* mountains in Australia!) and general lightness of tone. True, the two most despicable people in the story are gay men, but that is countered by a third, lovely gay man and a lesbian couple who are most welcoming and helpful to Phryne. This was first published in 1993, when depictions of gay characters in fiction were almost non-existent, at least in terms of them being just regular people (as opposed to living agonized, restricted and untruthful lives), so kudos to Ms. Greenwood for that aspect in this series! Looking forward to the next one…. show less

Kerry Greenwood has done it again. In the Honorable Phryne Fisher's fifth outing in The Green Mill Murder, one of the contestants in a dance marathon collapses after having been stabbed in the heart and Phryne literally trips over him. Phryne's escort for the evening, Charles Freeman, an effete, selfish Momma's boy, is initially accused of the murder. Freeman's overbearing mother hires Phryne to clear her son.

Phryne solves the mystery of this death at the Green Mill, Melbourne's finest dance club, along with taking care of two other problems that emerge in The Green Mill Murder with her usual élan and perspicacity -- but only after a perilous plane trip, a search for a hermit believed long dead, and a trip deep into Snowy River show more country. The ending isn't just unexpected; it comes as quite a jolt.

The book is so excellent I devoured it in less than 24 hours. You won't regret another outing with the fabulous Phryne. show less

Let's see, what was my history with Miss Fisher before this book … I adore the Corinna Chapman series, and was surprised and impressed by [book:Out of the Black Land], set in ancient Egypt. I did not, however, much enjoy the first Phryne Fisher novel, [book:Cocaine Blues], for some reason. I think it was just discomfiture with the utterly unique and I-don't-careness of Miss Fisher, and her way of breezing in, solving things, sleeping with any attractive man, and breezing out. Still, loving the author, I stocked up on all the books, and have been nabbing them as often as possible on Netgalley. Oh, and I have been loving the Australian TV series, which is QUITE different in some ways. Looking for something reliable and quick, I landed show more on [book:The Green Mill Murder], and – sure enough. I'm a convert.

Phryne Fisher is marvellous.

Kerry Greenwood, too.

I have to get this out of the way first: I've not read the three books in between Cocaine and Green Mill, so I don't know how the novels treat the relationship between Miss Fisher and Robinson ("Call me Jack"), but in the TV series Jack doesn't say "ain't" and doesn't use double negatives. This is not that Jack. That took some getting used to. I missed him. (I was also a bit startled by the appearance of a Mrs. Butler, but not in a bad way.)

And much as I enjoyed the episode based on this book, I’m kind of happy to say I enjoyed the book more. Characters' motivations were clearer, and the extra time I got to spend with them was appreciated. And there was no wombat in the episode.

The adventure into the Australian Alps and Phryne's time there (note the tap-dancing to avoid spoilers) were wonderful. "I've got a dog and a horse and all the silence in the world." I want that … I really want that, "Lovely and high and far away".

Oh well.

I always seem to learn something from these books; the origins of the words "jazz" and "ragtime" here are nice little bonus tidbits. And I'd never heard of a baby car before – by heck, they were smaller than Mini Coopers, and much as I want one of those I've never been sure I'd feel safe in one.

It's wonderful to have all those Phryne Fishers waiting for me.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review. show less

Phryne is participating in a dance marathon when a finalist drops dead right in front of her from a stab wound. There were plenty of witnesses, including Phryne herself, but no apparent suspects. To add to the mystery, her own dance partner has disappeared and Phryne is hired by his mother to find him. The ensuing pursuit, including Phryne's own flight to rural Australia, is dramatic with a somewhat unexpected climax. The story of two very different and estranged brothers and their domineering mother provide an interesting subplot.

I love this series so much, I have to be careful in doling it out to myself! I want it to last!

(My edition, bought 10-2015, is complete. If you get one that is missing pages, I'd suggest either returning it to Amazon or contacting Poisoned Pen Press directly.)

This is an excellent mystery, piquing my interest in both the origins of jazz, the legal riskiness of homosexuality (male), and some of the effects of the Great War on the men that fought in it.

As with the previous books, while some of the content is heavy, the books themselves have a verve that honors the heaviness but still has fun- much like Phryne herself.

Phryne is superb, of course! And I love seeing and learning more about her various associates, all of whom are well-drawn show more and interesting people in their own right.

The plots are nicely elaborate and convoluted, and resolve satisfactorily in ways i could not call- much- beforehand. Kudos! (Because I have been reading mysteries for at least 45 years, since childhood, and I really love ones that still surprise me.)

Very recommended for fans of the series, in either TV or book form... but I'd start at the beginning. This may be one of the better stand-alines of the ones I've read, though. show less

My first Phryne Fisher but fifth in the series. A gently sprawling mystery that came together very neatly. I'm impressed by the amount of research Greenwood must have done just to pepper the book with throwaway tidbits and sideplots.

Throughout, the breezy tone and casual winky sensuality reminded me so much of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum. But now that I think about Phryne's various achievements and capabilities and connections, perhaps personality-wise she's more of a Poirot, as incongruous as that feels.

Usually having something too familiar/close to home takes me out of a story, but it was really nice to have a fairly classic private detective story in an Australian setting and with Australian characters.