Death by Water

By Kerry Greenwood

The nice men at P&O are worried. A succession of jewelry thefts from the first-class passengers is hardly the best advertisement for their cruises. Especially when it is likely that a passenger is the thief. Phryne Fisher, with her Lulu bob, green eyes, cupid’s bow lips, and sense that the ends justify the means, is just the person to mingle seamlessly with the upper classes and take on a case of theft on the high seas or at least on the S.S. Hinemoa, on a luxury cruise to New Zealand. She is carrying the Great Queen of Sapphires, the Maharani, as bait. Shipboard romances, champagne cocktails, erotic photographers, jealous swains, Mickey Finns, jazz musicians, blackmail, and attempted murder mingle before the thieves find out, as have countless love-smitten men before them, that where the glamorous and intelligent Phryne is concerned, resistance is futile.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: Feb 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781615953684

Kerry Greenwood

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has degrees in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant. Kerry has written three series, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D’Arcy, is an award-winning children’s writer and has edited and contributed to several anthologies. The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry has written twenty books in this series with no sign yet of Miss Fisher hanging up her pearl-handled pistol. Kerry says that as long as people want to read them, she can keep writing them. In 2003 Kerry won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Australian Association.

Reviews for Death by Water

[chazzifrazz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Phryne Fisher takes to sea, courtesy of the P&O line. It seems they’ve had a rash of jewellery thefts and can’t determine if the thief is among the passengers or the crew.Phyrne and her companion, Dot, sail on the luxury ship SS Hinemoa; destination New Zealand. As an enticement to the thieves, Phryne is given the Maharani, the Great Queen of Sapphires, to wear. With Phryne’s looks, wardrobe and the stone, she can’t help to attract attention.While Phryne is enjoying cocktails with the upper class, Dot is learning about what the crew knows of the thefts. Between the two they solve not only this mystery, but also another one!Jazz musicians, blackmail, a possessive husband and his flirt-ive wife, attempted murder are just a few of the events Phyrne encounters on her search for the theif.This time out, it is only Dot to assist, but Phryne does manage to shanghai a couple of passengers and crew to help.I am still enjoying this series….sort of like a get-away without getting away!

[jenneb_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Oh, this is one of my favorite so far in the series! It was really nice to have a change of scene and the New Zealand cruise ship was a perfect choice.

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fun book. Phyrne is undercover on a cruise ship to find a thief of stolen gems. She of course has her trusted "companion" Dot with her to help. Of course, there are a slew of suspects and a mysterious cat to help solve the case. Phyrne catches a psychotic murderer for the police too. Easy book to listen to while walking.

[kmajort · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting twist; this one took me by surprise.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

P&O have approached Phryne with a mission, to investigate jewellery theft, apparently someone in first-class is committing the deed, she's asked to pose as a first class passenger (not that Phryne would countenance anything less these days) and use a lure to catch the thief. Things start getting complicated and everyone is a possible suspect.Poor Dot gets knocked out, but Phryne does her bit in panache and elegant clothes.Twisty plot with lots of red herrings and plenty of moments where Phryne is magnificent. A very limited suspect pool makes this quite interesting.

[annbury_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the best in a top notch series. Phyrne takes to the waves for a little bit of high end detection, and what does she get? A flurry of plots, counterplots, and mayhem, of course, but as usual she copes with extraordinary aplomb. I particularly enjoyed this outing, in large part because of the ship board seven. The author vividly recreates (or at least reimagines) what it was like to be a first class passenger on a first class liner in the 1920's, and it is a very enjoyable trip indeed.

[jillmwo-74323 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good light read as most of the titles in this series are. Greenwood offers a "closed room" mystery as Phryne sets sail on a cruise (undercover of course). It's also a tad milder than some of her others as Phryne only falls into bed with someone once during the course of the tale. Not quite a cozy, but a really well done puzzle style mystery.

[jazzycat_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

1920s Private investigator Phryne fisher is dispatched to a luxury cruise ship patroling the New Zealnd waters, to investigate the theft of valuables from passengers.