From Publishers Weekly
While fans of Australian author Greenwood's light and humorous Phryne Fisher mystery series (Cocaine Blues, etc.) may expect the plot to be subordinate to the heroine's displays of wit and libido, the degree to which that is the case this time out makes this a less successful entry than most. The action begins dramatically as Bernard Stevens, a participant in a dance marathon, drops dead in a Sydney nightclub, just before the end of the competition. Fisher, an amazingly self-possessed and competent amateur sleuth, happens to have been nearby at the time, and soon is involved in the investigation. When her date vanishes, after slipping away from the scene of the murder, ostensibly to compose himself, she's hired by his mother to trace both him and his brother, a veteran of the worst trench warfare of WWI. The period is, as always, well-portrayed, but the resolution of the whodunit will disappoint some.
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From Booklist
The 16 Phryne Fisher mysteries have been appearing steadily in the U.S. over the last several years in mostly random order. This latest to land here was the fifth of the series to be published in Australia (in 1993). It finds the uncontainable, outspoken Australian flapper and private eye trying to figure out who murdered a dance-contest participant and why. As usual, it's the setting--Australia in the 1920s--that sells the story. Fisher herself, as always, is a thoroughly modern heroine, sharp-tongued, self-reliant, and more than able to handle herself when push comes to shove. Greenwood assumes we have read the previous entries in the series, and that we are familiar with the supporting cast (including Mr and Mrs. Butler, who are Phryne's, well, . . . butlers), but she provides enough explanation to keep us from feeling lost. Australian crime fiction is becoming increasingly popular in North America, but Greenwood's series, thanks to its sparkling evocation of how the 1920s roared Down Under, manages to stand apart from the crowd. Anyone who hasn't discovered Phryne Fisher by now should start making up for lost time.
David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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