Murder on the Ballarat Train

October 1, 2006
The third Phryne Fisher mystery is one of the standouts of the series, effortlessly matching a compelling plot with its irresistible heroine. Fisher and her faithful companion, Dot, narrowly escape death while riding on a train when Fisher awakens to find chloroform fumes have rendered the other passengers unconscious-before succumbing herself. When some order is restored, Fisher and Dot discover that an elderly woman who had been travelling with her daughter is missing. The police inquiry soon finds the woman's battered corpse, and Fisher is retained to solve the crime, doing so with her usual insight, pluck and style.

October 1, 2006
On the train to Ballarat, 1920s Australian feminist flapper and private investigator Phryne Fisher ("Flying Too High") wakes up to the smell of chloroform. She saves all her fellow passengers, except an old, cantankerous woman whose body is found at the side of the train tracks. While investigating the murder for the woman's daughter, Phryne also takes in an amnesiac waif on the train who has no knowledge of why she is traveling in the opposite direction of her ticket. Compared with other mysteries, Greenwood's stories are brief, but she holds her own, writing well-thought-out plots starring the intelligent, sexy, liberated, and wealthy Phryne. Greenwood lives in Melbourne, Australia. [See Prepub Mystery, "LJ" 6/1/06.]

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2006
This latest mystery to feature the irrepressible Phryne Fisher, Melbourne's uninhibited 1920s private detective, begins with Phryne saving the lives of a group of travelers when someone chloroforms their train compartments. Unfortunately, an elderly woman is discovered missing and then found murdered. It's left to Phryne to unmask the killer while rescuing a young girl who suffers from amnesia. This series continues to offer a feisty main character and a vividly created and definitely unusual historical setting--the flapper Down Under.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)