Urn Burial

This is an enjoyable, Australia-set take on a country house mystery. Phryne Fisher decides to visit a friend's estate in order to recover from her experiences in Ruddy Gore—of course, this being the series that it is, she's not there very long before there's all sorts of mischief afoot with murdered housemaids and hidden secrets. I enjoyed all the OTT twists and turns, Dot (as per usual; what a great example of a female character who is competent and brave without being a Strong Female Character cliché), and Phryne being unashamedly polymorous. However, while I also really enjoy Lin being represented as a desirable, heroic figure, and do like that Greenwood subverts some expectations (Lin identifies as Chinese but was born in England show more and educated in Oxford), there's still some exoticisation going on here which makes me wince. Ditto the frequent comparisons made here to Phryne as a Manchu Princess—Phryne is a fantastic character in and of herself, and using a (nameless, non-white) female Other as a shorthand symbol of that awesome is just unnecessary. And, you know, a little racist. The one recurring irritation in what is otherwise a really fab series of books. show less

Even before they reach the country house to which they’ve been invited to stay, Phryne, Dot, Lin and his manservant Li find themselves rescuing a maid from assault in the woods; once at the house, they find an odd collection of guests and servants, and a host who appears preoccupied and afraid. That host, Tom, is a long-time friend of Phryne’s, who knows him as a bon vivant, and she is determined to find the cause of his changed demeanor, but before she can even begin, someone is murdered and urns are showing up all over the place….This is Ms. Greenwood’s homage to Agatha Christie; indeed, one of the guests is an elderly woman named Miss Mary Mead, in case the reader misses that fact! I quite enjoyed it, with its not-quite-cozy show more setting, the odd assortment of characters and motivations that animate them, and of course Phryne’s ability to survive everything from being thrown from a horse to nearly drowning in a basement. Lots of fun; recommended. show less

Series have high points, and series have lows: this book definitely falls into the latter category. It won't stop me from reading the series -- the central character is still very engaging, the characterization is still strong, and the clothes are still great. But the story is confusing and unclear. The author seems to have been trying out a standard of pre-war British crime fiction -- the isolated country house, complete with a long and murderous guest list -- but it gets out of control. The house is too weird, the guests are too ill assorted, and the fact that EVERYONE has reason to kill goes a bit too far. Also, Phryne's Chinese boyfriend is cast into the shadow. I look forward to the next in the series, but if you are starting out, show more there are better Phryne Fisher novels earlier in the series. show less

I love the Miss Fisher mystery series, and this is no exception!

In this volume Green wood does a riff on the classic murder mystery house party, intensified by a flooding river cutting off normal access to the outside world. Meanwhile, there's murder, and blackmail, and revenge sought, and all sorts of other secrets.

The plot was nicely intricate, with both things that appeared to be related ending up not being, and things that seemed unrelated twisted up together. Despite all the complications this implies, I am reasonable sure that Greenwood pulled it off, without getting the threads snarled unintentionally.

There were a lot more characters this time, so it was nice to have a listing of them in the front of the book- I did check that a show more few times when I got confused, since everyone not in Phryne's party was new to me. Her cohort, though, were beautifully drawn and we learned more about all 3 of them. The others were reasonably complex within the limits of their limited roles, though I must say the Big Bad was not so much; he was a weird mixture of savvy and batso nuts. Still, that wasn't completely obvious to me till the end, because there were at least 2 other candidates.

Very enjoyable, especially when one has read a good number of country house-party murder mysteries! Greenwood has some great twists on them here.

Recommended, and I have to discipline myself not to just dive into the next one! show less

Like all of these books, this volume is a light and fluffy murder mystery. It's comfort reading, and I enjoyed this one more than the last book. It was a nice change to see one of Phryne's harem stick around for a second book, although I'm not really a fan of his and I'm hoping she'll move on soon. The mystery wasn't much of a mystery, but it was fun to see how it all works out, and there were a few surprises along the way.

In her eighth novel featuring 1920s heiress and free spirit Phryne Fisher, author Kerry Greenwood tries her hand at the British cozy staple of a murder during a country house party and succeeds rather well. Phryne Fisher, accompanied by her loyal maid Dot Williams, her Chinese lover Lin Chung, and Chung's capable servant Li Pen, is en route to a huge mansion called Cave House that's located in a rather far-flung part of Australia's Victorian mountain area. However, as they're closing in on the house, they encounter the attempted rape of a young woman. It turns out that the victim, Lina Wright, is a housemaid at Cave House; however, Cave House's owner and Phryne's host, publisher Tom Reynolds, doesn't want to face up to the crime -- or show more to a number of other odd goings-on at Cave House. Well, Phryne certainly isn't going to hesitate at investigating!

Greenwood does a lovely job with the house party concept. She's especially clever with Miss Mary Mead, an obvious homage to Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple; with Miss Cynthia Medenham, who's clearly based on Elinor Glyn, screenwriter and author of sexy romance novels which scandalized Edwardian society; and Gerald Randall and Jack Lucas, who would fit neatly into Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. The house party characters were delicious fun!

So why three stars? Urn Burial suffers from too many far-fetched elements, including the ending. Greenwood's concept was a five-star invention: transferring the house party from England to Australia and keeping the idea fresh. However, Greenwood's execution was not up to her usual standards. show less

{Eighth of 20: Phryne Fisher mysteries. Golden age crime, Australian}

It was a dark and foggy night deep in the Victorian countryside when someone screamed, a shot rang out and the Hon. Phryne (Fry knee) Fisher was thrown into another mystery as she was on her way to stay for a house party. Always one to buck convention Phryne took along her lover and his man servant (as well as her maid Dot) even though they knew they would face prejudice. Soon Phryne, and we, were introduced to other members of the house party and the stage was set for an Agatha Christie-style country house party whodunnit with a very Australian flavour. Apart from the dishevelled house maid Phryne et al rescued and who was too distressed to name her attacker, the head show more of the house has been receiving threatening letters; things escalated from there and the situation was exacerbated by a nearby river tributary flooding, thereby increasing the isolation of the house from outside help.

The title comes from a 17th century book Phryne borrows from the Cave House library to pass the time and which Greenwood quotes at the beginning of each chapter. It also refers to the urns with which the house's previous owner and builder has liberally decorated the edifice.

There is lots of action to go with the mystery and the clues are all there. I didn't solve it (although I did get some things right) but then I never do, so that wasn't my real focus.

The Phryne Fisher stories can easily be read as stand-alones as each crime is committed and solved within the book. There are references to Phryne's own history and also to a couple of previous cases but I must have started reading this series more than a decade ago so I don't remember the details (or even some of the crimes) and didn't feel that 'Urn Burial' suffered from it. (I'm trying to avoid spoilers for previous books.)

Since Greenwood is writing in the present day about events taking place after the Great War, she can highlight differences between manners and conventions of the day and now for effect - for instance, acceptable topics of conversation in the drawing room or Phryne's unconventional love life. However, since I don't read much period fiction apart from Jane Austen, I still found 1920s Australia more liberal than Georgian England. It was interesting to see the way that Melbourne high society fluctuated between sticking rigidly to the ways of the 'home country' and defiantly marking its own path. I did think Phryne played a bit fast and loose with her lover's heart, though.

I suspect Greenwood may have had a dose of P. G. Wodehouse before writing this one. There was a Beech (of Blandings) type character and several phrases amused me; the description of Phryne's party's first sight of Cave House had me giggling.

It was too much for the end of a long drive. Lin Chung sat as though stunned, every canon of design known to him, both Chinese and Oxford, thoroughly outraged. Li Pen reflected that even the legendary Yellow Emperor on an overdose of hallucinogenic mushrooms had never conceived anything like this. Dot thought it was overdone, but interesting.

As always, a thoroughly enjoyable adventure with two strong female leads and a sojourn into Australian society of a century ago.

PS: I did think the ending was a bit awkward, though, especially as there was only one actual murder. Be warned - there are the occasional steamy scenes.

3 stars show less