Phryne is driving home when a bullet goes through her windshield. She tries to pursue the shooters but loses them and finds a young man bleeding out in the street. As she holds his dying body she vows to find the shooters and get revenge. This leads her into a nest of anarchists. Meanwhile, she is also hired to find a missing girl from a truly revolting family.
This is the book that introduces Dot to Hugh Collins.

read 2/2/2024 ( )

The fourth Phryne Fisher mystery starts with a pretty young man dying in her arms. Phryne is determined to get justice for the young man. But to do so she will have to get involved with Anarchists who are planning a bank robbery.

Meanwhile, she is hired to find a young girl who had disappeared. The girl goes to the same school as Phryne's newly adopted daughters. As she searches for Alicia, she uncovers quite a number of unsavory secrets from her family.

This was another excellent entry in this series. 1928 is vividly realized and Phryne is an independent woman who sets her own course and lives by her own moral code. Phryne's maid Dot gets a nice part in this one when she is kidnapped and has to use her own ingenuity to prevent a future crime.

Fun historical mystery engagingly read by Stephanie Daniel who does a great job with all the characters and with the pacing of the story. ( )

Phryne Fisher is a likeable, charming and vibrant individual. She's kind and generous to those she meets, smart and logical when faced with problems or obstacles and adventurous in her dislike of boredom. She is brave and tenacious and brutal when faced with injustice.

A few deaths of distant relatives were all that stood between her life of poverty and her ascent into luxury at the age of 12 and she never takes her wealth and social standing for granted. The result of which is a kind and generous soul who is always willing to speak up for the victims, the downtrodden or the underdogs and one who relishes fine food, fine clothes and the myriad of pursuits open to her. Her open mindedness leads to an unique and vibrant cast pulled from all walks of life.

Being an Aussie and a proud Melbournian - the Melbourne setting was a highlight. Recognising the street names and places was fun. And Melbournians will understand the delight in recognising how strange our weather is to outsiders.

As far as the genre goes, I don't know if I'd really say it was crime or historical. I mean it is a historical period but it felt kind of modern. The crime was good but it was interspersed with character relationships. There was romance but none of it was meaningful or relevant. It was too lowbrow to be literary and too much reality to be chick lit. It's an odd mix that was an enjoyable read but likely not for everyone.

It's also fairly different from the tv show (and she's a lot younger in the books) but the main elements are present - like Phryne's love of clothes, her humour, confidence and loveable charming personality.

Character wise, I love them all! Phryne, Dot, Dr Elizabeth MacMillan, WPC Jones, Inspector Robinson, Bert and Cec, Mr and Mrs. Butler, Jane, Ruth, they were all fantastic and had me giggling throughout. And I adore the way women are portrayed in this series. I love that all the female characters are strong willed and fierce and able to look after themselves - even when it doesn't always seem like it. I also really like how the cops aren't written as useless or inept - but rather unable to significantly help without someone willing to speak up and testify.

Well this was intense. There was things happening all over the place. Unfortunately unlike the last book where I could push my issues aside fairly easily, this book I could not. I didn't like Peter. I hated the whole anarchy storyline. It was just too political for my tastes I think. I didn't much like most of the characters involved either which likely didn't help.

What I did like was the plot about the missing girl and Ruth and Jane's deviousness in finding out extra details. I loved the tattoo guy being cowed because Phryne goes in and is happy to reveal her skin in order to be tattooed. I liked getting to see more Bert and Cec and their confidence in leaving Phryne to do what Phryne does best without their help. I also loved the developing romance between police detective Hugh Collins and Dot. I loved the the ways they both foiled the criminals - Hugh taking the car part so they couldn't be chased, Dot breaking down the gun to cause it to jam at the crucial point of time.

Overall it wasn't as strong as the other books - but honestly it probably was just me not liking the content all that much. 3 stars. ( )

Death at Victoria Dock - Greenwood
Audio performance by Stephanie Daniel
3 stars
Number 4 in the series begins with a murder and a narrow escape for Phryne. The book that introduced Hugh Collins to his first corpse and as a natural consequence to Dorothy. Anarchists, spiritualists and bank robbers, oh my! ( )

I was introduced to the lovely Phryne Fisher book series by the TV series. However, I just must point out that, despite liking the books my heart has been captivated by the TV series and I deeply, very deeply miss Detective Inspector Jack Robinson in this book. Now, he doesn't have a prominent role in the book series that have in the TV series and that is regrettable. At least that's how I feel.

Now, how about this book? I did enjoy reading this cozy mystery series. I quite like Phryne Fisher and those around her; her adopted daughters Jane and Ruth, and Bert and Cec that are working for her. And of course Dot, her assistant, and friend. In this book, we are also introduced to Hugh Collins who is playing a large part in Dot's life in the TV series. It will be interesting to see the book's version of their relationship. I did feel that the book's story was familiar, it has probably been made into an episode, but I didn't mind it because it was quite entertaining to read the book. Although I found the missing young girl a bit more interesting to read about than the dead anarchist. Not, that the storyline was uninteresting. I was just more intrigued by the lost girl and the secret she knew.

All and all, a nice interesting story and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books I have yet to read in this series!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )