Synopses & Reviews
Phryne Fisher is bored. Life appears to be too easy, too perfect. Her household is ordered, her love life is pleasant, the weather is fine. And then a man from her past arrives at the door. It is Alan Lee from the carnival. Alan and his friends want her to investigate strange happenings at Farrells Circus, where animals have been poisoned and ropes sabotaged. Mr. Christopher has been found with his throat cut in Mrs. Witherspoon's irreproachable boarding house and Miss Parkes, an ex-performer, is charged with his murder.Phryne must go undercover deeper than ever to solve the circus malaise. She must abandon her name, her title, her protection, her comfort, even her clothes. She must fall off a horse twice a day until she can stay on. She must sleep in a girls tent and dine on mutton stew. And she must find some allies.Meanwhile, in Melbourne, the young and fresh-faced policeman Tommy Harris has to solve his own mysteries with the help of the foul-spoken harridan Lizard Elsie, or Miss Parkes will certainly hang. Can Phyrne uncover the truth without losing her life?
Review
"Under the big top, socialite detective Phryne Fisher (The Green Hill Murder, 2007, etc.) falls for a clown, learns to love a bear and solves a case of sabotage.
When her former lover, half-gypsy carnival worker Alan Lee, asks for help in discovering who's sabotaging Farrell's Circus, Phryne is up for the challenge. Because a horse has been poisoned and a rider injured, Phryne is able to apply for a job as a trick rider. Meanwhile, a hermaphrodite who worked at the circus is found murdered in a Melbourne rooming house. Miss Parkes, a killer just released from prison, is arrested, but Constable Harris thinks she's innocent, and DI Robinson agrees. Robinson, realizing that a murder involving rival gangs is somehow connected with the circus, becomes concerned for Phryne, for whom the circus is a whole new world. At length she learns to do the equestrian tricks well enough to be in the show. Meantime, she makes both new friends and new enemies in the rigid circus society. Her affair with one of the clowns raises eyebrows. But disapproval is the least of her worries as she tries to discover the identity of the saboteur. When her case collides with the police investigation, the consequences are perilous.
Circus oddities and exciting men produce a thrilling series of challenges for Phryne. Above-average for the series." --Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Circus oddities and exciting men produce a thrilling series of challenges for Phryne. Above-average for the series." --Kirkus Reviews
"...as fans of this very popular series will expect—Phryne keeps her wits about her and her spirits up. A top-notch entry in this witty, hugely entertaining series." --Booklist
About the Author
Kerry Greenwood is the author of thirty-eight novels and six non-fiction books. Among her many honors, Ms. Greenwood has received the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers' Association of Austrialia. Other mysteries In the Phryne Fisher series available from Poisoned Pen Press are Murder in Montparnasse, Cocaine Blues, Flying too High, Murder on the Ballarat Train, Death at Victoria Dock, Ruddy Gore, and Urn Burial. She is also the author of several books for young adults and the Delphic Women series. When she is not writing she is an advocate in Magistrates’ Courts for the Legal Aid Commission. She is not married, has no children and lives with a registered Wizard.