A Question of Death: An Illustrated Phryne Fisher Treasury

I was first introduced to Phryne Fisher through Netflix. I stumbled across a series, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and fell immediately in love. Phyrne is a lady detective in the 1920's living in Australia. She's a very modern, sassy, sexy kind of woman. So imagine my excitement when I learned that the series is based off a book series by Kerry Greenwood.

A Question of Death is a collection of thirteen short stories starring the fantastic Phryne Fisher. I love and hate short stories because they are never long enough to suit my tastes. Plus in mysteries, there is not a lot of setup and buildup before the case is solved. But despite that this book was still good. For me, it was the perfect book to read just before bed.

In addition to the show more short stories, this book also has illustrations strewn throughout. They give the book a quaint touch. At the end of each story a recipe is included for either food or drink. I didn't try any of the recipes yet, but I will in the future. Overall I enjoyed this book. There was, however, a concern with the first few stories. They had an excessive amount of typos and missing words. I sincerely hope that this is just an oversight of the publisher and they've since corrected the errors. show less

Phryne Fisher is a thoroughly modern young 1920’s flapper. She wears dresses above her ankles, trousers, has bobbed her hair and follows her own rules for acceptable behaviour. Phryne is a rich and independent woman who drinks, has casual sex on her terms, smokes, drives fast cars, flies a plane and solves mysteries.

A QUESTION OF DEATH is a collection of short stories from ideas that author, Kerry Greenwood, came up with while writing the longer novels, but in the end left out. Greenwood reworked them and has put together in one absolutely spiffing collection. Phryne flirts with various young admirers while solving such mysteries as locating a lost husband, uncovering the murderer of an obnoxious member of the aristocracy, and show more locating a missing artwork. Phryne is always on the side of the little guy, whether it be against the rich, the exploitative or abusive.

Between the short stories there are recipes, cocktail suggestions, helpful hints like how to get rid of an unwanted suitor and a personal interview with the Honourable Miss Fisher herself. Beautifully illustrated, this is a wonderful book to add to your Phryne collection show less

An amusing batch of stories with a very likable heroine. Phryne is a smart, independent, funny lady of the 1920's who solves mysteries. Light reading but amusing.

I don't think I ever wrote a review before but I thought I try. I'm open to any critiques or questions =)

I picked up "A Question of Death" because the cover intrigued me. The artwork is lovely and I'm interested (fashion wise) in the early eras of the 20th century. The flap of the book indicated that this was a book of short stories involving a main character named Phryne Fisher and it could be read by those who read her series and those who never read a single book of it. I'm in the latter.

The stories take place mainly in 1920s Australia. I have no idea what 1920s Australia was like and can only assume this is all accurate. Some of the stories do have references to other parts of history (like quotes from Chaucer's works and a story of show more St. Mungo).

The star of course is Hon. Miss Phryne Fisher - a black haired, green -eyed woman who has impeccable fashion taste and sleeps with so many men, the brothels at the time would've been out of business. She's (from what I gather from this book) a well off lady who came to Australia to become a detective. She's pretty much perfect. Miss Fisher does not seem to have any flaws - unless you count smoking, drinking and being a cougar which doesn't affect her work really. I love that she's a feminist and knows how to handle almost any situation but it feels like I'm being told constantly that she's amazing and mentioning of her hair and eye color almost every story was annoying. There are a few other characters that are seen more than once but I didn't read any of the series and the focus is on PHRYNE FISHER so its hard for me to really judge their personalities sand their relationships with her really.

The cases are either about murder or a missing item. To be honest, I only figured out the answer pretty quickly to ONE of the stories but then again, my puzzle solving skills are not the greatest in the world. The mysteries are amusing and their endings very satistying.

The illustrations are beautiful. At the beginning of each story, there's a colorful drawing of Miss Fisher and sprinkle of pictures on some of the pages. They're really lovely. The recipes are interesting and I may try a couple. The book also has a glossary for all those old words that young people like me have never heard of outside of an ancient gangster movie set at that time. I wish it put more words that were use in.

On whole, I like the book but something feels empty about the main character to me. She's an interesting personality but maybe it's the fact I don't see flaws or being reminded that's she such an awesome person when it should be up to the reader to figure it out. I have no idea why I feel that way. I'm going to read a book or two from the series as to me it feels like I have to have more backbone to appreciate the book more and end this conflicted feeling about Phryne. show less

I mainly read this for the short stories, none of which I had read elsewhere. The short glossary at the back also told me a few things that I didn't know.

Set in 1928, this anthology was published between #16 and #17 in the Phryne Fisher series (#16 was set on Christmas Eve 1928) There are currently 22 books in the series, with #22 due to be published in May 2022. I haven't read all of them by any means (although more than I have listed below) and so I think I should look for more this year.

Kerry Greenwood has written another 35 books outside this series (see the list at Fantastic Fiction), including some historical non-fiction, and several books for young adults.

There are 13 short stories in A QUESTION OF DEATH, some better than others, show more but mostly entertaining.

There is an interesting prelude by the author at the front of the anthology in which she says Phryne Fisher is her favourite heroine. show less

Considering I am a Phryne fan, I scored this collection of short stories rather low. I liked them (kind of) but not particularly.

The short stories, were, well...Short and lacked substance, as well as the fact some were repeated themes from her novels with different outcomes.

I could have done without the interview of Phryne (which was trite) and illustrations. I don't need or want to know what Phyrne's favorite headpieces, shoes are, or what is in her handbag.

I did like the recipes, especially for the Tea Cake & Champagne Punch:

4 ripe pineapples peeled & cubed)
2 cups sugar
1 bottle white rum
2 cups lemon juice
1 cup grenadine
1 bottle brandy (get the good stuff...it does matter)
1 cup cherry liqueur
8 bottles of champagne

Marinate the show more pineapple in the rum & sugar overnight. Add all the ingredients except the champagne (in a punch bowl) and mix well. Pour the champagne in just before serving. Whoo hoo! show less

This is a book of short stories with lots of lovely drawings of Phryne Fisher, the thoroughly modern detective in the 1920s Australia. Phyrne is lots of fun and has a great circle of friends to help her.