Murder in Montparnasse

When Bert and Cec ask for Phryne’s help in tracking down the unknown person who appears to be murdering their friends with whom they had spent a memorable night in Paris in 1918, Phyrne is thrown back into memories of her own time in Paris, also in 1918, and full of events she has spent 10 years determinedly not recalling. At the same time, she is asked to look into the apparent kidnapping of a wealthy young woman whose father, a horse dealer not known for his probity. As if that was not enough, she must cope with domestic problems in the form of Mr. Butler, who objects to her continuing liaison with Lin Chung because the latter is about to get married, and adultery is where Mr. Butler draws the line…. Once again, Ms. Greenwood’s show more book is light even when dealing with such serious matters as wife-beating and penury, but in this particular entry, we especially learn a lot more about Phyrne’s life in Paris a decade before the events of the series, including how she came to be the fearless and street-smart young woman we’ve come to know and love. Recommended! show less

Murder in Montparnasse features an unusually ruminant Phryne Fisher. In a novel set in 1928, the fabulous Phryne delves into two mysteries: the disappearance of a wealthy girl just returned from Paris and the suspected murders of two ANZAC soldiers who fought with Phryne's red-ragger friends, Bert Johnson and Cecil Yates.

Needless to say, Phryne solves both cases, but what really distinguishes Kerry Greenwood's 12th Phryne Fisher mystery is its exploration of Phryne's vulnerabilities and its window on the ex-pat scene in Paris immediately after the Great War. Phryne's famous Parisian friends include Oscar Wilde's witty niece, Dorothy; Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, poet Natalie Clifford Barney, painter Romaine Brooks and other show more visitors to Barney's salon. What a delight! I can only hope that Greenwood will revisit Phryne's Paris days in yet another novel. show less

Magnifique!! This installment of the saga of Phryne Fisher takes us back into our heroine's past, when she was a young and foolish artist's model in Paris. The road back is paved with her current effort to find out why someone is trying to kill the members of a group of Aussie WWI veterans, a group that includes Cec and Bert. As usual, the atmospherics are terrific, both the near-desperation of Paris just after the war, and the gaiety of Melbourne in the late 1920's. This go-round, however, is particularly well plotted -- the back and forth between Paris and Melbourne is very well handled. Also, it gives us an unusual look at Phryne's emotional life, and at a situation in which she did not emerge triumphant.

These are really very show more entertaining mysteries. Why then do I give the best of them four stars instead of five? Because as a former English major I have a deep (and probably inaccurate) conviction that only Serious Works deserve top marks. Maybe we could have categories like "rating as mystery" -- no, too complex. Anyway, this is, to repeat, a really good mystery. show less

Murder in Montparnasse is the twelfth in Kerry Greenwood’s series featuring the insouciant Phryne Fisher. This story has many flashbacks to the end of World War I and Phryne’s time in Paris as an artist model when she was young and deeply in love. Through the memories, we learn that her love affair ended badly. Meanwhile, in the present in Australia, friends of Bert and Cec are being killed in clever “accidents” they are sure are murders. Phryne is also hired to solve a kidnapping, the young fiancée of a French chef at Cafe Anatole has disappeared. Her father is a less than licit horse breeder/racer whose activities suggest the kidnappers could have ulterior motives. There is a lot going on, in the past and in the present.

Of show more course, things are both more and less than they appear. Phryne untangles the many threads that knot these stories together and with the help of Inspector Jack Robinson, Constable Williams, Bert, Cec, and even her adoptive daughters, Phryne untangles the crimes of the past and the present and we learn much more about what drives her independent spirit.

I love Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher stories. They are pure wish fulfillment for me, a brilliant, beautiful, wealthy woman who can play Lady Bountiful, whose social conscience is as lively and “woke” as a present day activist, and who wears the most beautiful gowns ever made, there could be nothing better. Every once in a while, though, her books get overladen with her research. She does a tremendous amount of research in order to fully inhabit the time and place, but sometimes, I get the sense that having put so much time into the research, she can’t bear to leave it out. This is one of those books.

Frankly, I liked this least of Phryne’s novels. I enjoyed the kidnapping plot and its resolution. I loved the girls following the young suspect through the city. The murder plot is on one hand, incredibly complex and diabolical and on the other hand, completely obvious. I did enjoy Constable Collins moment of heroism and professional success and the side plots were enjoyable, but the main story and its connection to France stretched a very thin thread of plausibility past its breaking point. Add to that, the heavy weight of name-dropping and research-flaunting and it was just not up to Greenwood’s usual standard. Nonetheless, it’s still a good solid mystery and advances our understanding of Phryne and sets the stage for future stories.

Murder in Montparnasse will be released September 5th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

Murder in Montparnasse at Poisoned Pen Press
Kerry Greenwood author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/9781464207747/ show less

Another enjoyable installment in the Phryne Fisher series, with all of the strengths and weaknesses familiar from the earlier books—in other words, great literature this ain't, but it's ideal for reading on a train-and-plane trip. I do wish that Greenwood had toned down the historical cameos in this one a tad, though; having just come back from two months in Paris, her description of the city in 1918 felt especially two-dimensional.

Bert and Cec usually help Phryne on her cases, but this time they are asking for her help. It seems someone is killing off some old friends of theirs. Why, they don’t know.

These friends were part of a group of soldiers who served together in 1918. They all get together once a year and this year there are 2 missing. As Phryne investigates, she finds that those men passed through Montparnasse at the same time Phryne was there. Memories of that past time come up — good and bad. A little of Phryne’s exotic past is revealed.

Meanwhile Lin Chung is getting married and he wants Phryne to meet his bride-to-be. This causes some upset within the household, causing Phryne to worry about how her smooth running household will function if things show more fall apart.

There is also the matter of the missing daughter of a “prominent racing identity,” another term for racehorse owner and breeder. A demanding, mean and rude man who feels that money can buy anyone. He finds that he can’t buy Phryne — she won’t accept any fee for her service in finding the girl. Seems the daughter went with a friend to a dance and disappeared.

Needless to say, Phryne has a lot of irons in the fire to deal with, along with those old memories she has tried to bury.

Again, I enjoyed my visit to Phryne’ world of Australia in the 1920s. show less

These books are rapidly becoming a comfort read. A bit formulaic, and I can understand objections that Miss Fisher is just a little bit too perfect, but I've become quite attached to these characters and look forward to visiting them again.