I'm never convinced that I like the Phryne Fisher series; this was another where I enjoyed reading it, up to a point, and also spent a lot of time wondering why I was reading it. The writing is engaging and captivating, the plot and characters less so.

Rather than a single mystery, there are several, and Fisher and household (Ruth, Jane, Tinker) variously work at solving them. While it was interesting to have the different strands, I found that I didn't particularly care for any of the storylines, and such the book felt half-arsed at times.

There is an interesting writing conceit, which is that many of the chapters end with a snippet of dialogue that is from an unspecified viewpoint (although it does become obvious what that has to be), and provides extra context. I can see the why, but I found it distracting, regularly throwing me out of the story, because it was sufficiently tonally different that I often had to reread the snippets multiple times to work out what was going on. . ( )

Phyrne Fisher is at it again. This time there has been a suspicious murder of an Asian worker on the docks in Williamstown., and some dodgy accounting at the Institute for the Blind. Mystery with a dash of fun, 1920's fashion and parties. ( )

Phryne and her daughters are once again solving crimes. These are 3 seperate cases that never really come together in any cohesive storyline. It feels like 3 short stories spliced together.

read 2/1/2024 ( )

I liked that this book followed in the footsteps of the previous installment, Death in Daylesford, by showing how the wards of the wonderful Ms. Fisher are developing as talented investigators themselves. However it worked slightly less for me than that one, being much less cohesive, with less tying any of the mysteries together, so in the end it was a little more disjointed and less satisfying than having the mysteries (and the Fisher household) intertwined. ( )

Murder In Williamstown is the twenty-second book in The Phryne Fisher Mystery series.

I love this series, and it’s always enjoyable to visit with Phryne, Dot, and Phryne’s adopted children.

This book provides the reader with a trifecta of mysteries.

Phryne has received threatening note cards in her letter box condemning her lifestyle. The cards have used letters cut from newspapers. Phryne and her adopted son, Tinker, determine the letters on the note cards were cut from two newspapers. Tinker will set out to learn who is sending the note cards to Phryne.

Ruth and Jane, Phryne’s adopted daughters, will be volunteering at the Blind Institute. Ruth, who is adept with cooking, is assigned to help in the kitchen while Jane is assigned to the music department. When Jane learns that the bookkeeper suspects possible embezzling at the Institute, she volunteers to work in the accounting department. She finds some suspicious entries and discusses them with Phryne, who offers some suggestions to Jane.

Phryne has been invited to dinner at the home of university professor Jeoffrey Bisset. On the way to Bisst’s home, Phryne is walking through a park when she comes across an opium pipe, which she reports to the police. After arriving at Bisset’s home, they decide to walk along the beach when they come upon a dead Chinese man. The police are called, and Phryne’s friend, DI Jack Robertson, arrives to handle the investigation. Robertson and her occasional boyfriend, Lin Chung, tell her not to investigate the death of the man.

A week or so later, Phryne and Jeoffrey attend a party at the home of another lecturer at a university. They are enjoying the other guests, music, and dancing when the host ends up being stabbed to death. Phryne can't help but start searching for the killer.

I found the book well-written and plotted. The characters are well-developed and interesting. I particularly liked that the adoptive children got to solve their own mysteries. Dot is concerned that her fiance might be having second thoughts about marriage.

I’m looking forward to the next book in this wonderful series. ( )