Away With the Fairies

By Kerry Greenwood

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, now streaming on Netflix, starring Essie Davis as the honourable Phryne Fisher

It's 1928 in Melbourne and Phryne is asked to investigate the puzzling death of a famous author and illustrator of fairy stories. To do so, Phryne takes a job within the women's magazine that employed the victim and finds herself enmeshed in her colleagues' deceptions.

But while Phryne is learning the ins and outs of magazine publishing first hand, her personal life is thrown into chaos. Impatient for her lover Lin Chung's imminent return from a silk-buying expedition to China, she instead receives an unusual summons from Lin Chung's family, followed by a series of mysterious assaults and warnings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Release date: Aug 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781464207730

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 Away With the Fairies

[jenneb_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hmm, I thought this one was kind of a mess. The two plotlines didn't really go together.

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis:Miss Lavender, a children's author and artist, has been murdered. Phryne gets involved with the publication of a magazine to find her killer. Meanwhile, Lin Chung has vanished only to surface as a prisoner of pirates. Phryne, with the help of Bert, Cec, and Dot rescue him but not before they are all in danger. Review: Lots of tension and a lot of digging through people's past lives. The research for this book makes it spot on about art theft and the war.

[veracite · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A lot like the chocolate on the froth on a cappucino: sweet and transient. Phryne can do anything. She is both status quo and rebellion and she wears a great frock.

[cissa_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Two distinct threads in this one, that interweave but do not come together. I like that!Phryne takes a job at a women's magazine in order to help solve the murder of one of its employees... and more shenanegins need to be dealt with, too.Meanwhile, her favorite lover has been kidnapped by pirates, so naturally she has to do something...The murder plot was intricate and twisty, and had lots of red herrings that lead to other- but interesting! revelations.Dot is starting to come into her own as a sleuth, and that's so great! I also loved the glimpses of Phryne's adopted daughters.Recommended, and could be a first book read in the series, although you'd miss some of the meaning of the pirate subplot.

[debkrenzer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I just love Phyrne Fisher. I don't think there were a lot of women like her around 1928. This is a woman you do not want to mess with. She is constantly throwing out verbal threats and sometimes she even has to act on them. (People can be so foolish!) She also has a big heart, doesn't take any crap, has lots of money and is willing to give it out to anyone who needs it or anyone who help the case she is involved in at the moment.This latest one has two mysteries going on. The first is her "lover" Lin Chang has gone to China to purchase a new shipment of silk and she hasn't heard from him in weeks. She's very concerned. The second is a middle aged woman who is quite eccentric and has been murdered. This case takes her into the magazine/newspaper/publishing world. The rag she is helping by writing some fashion articles has mostly women. And, believe me, these women can argue about the nit pickiest things. HA!!Two mysteries, one she works with the police, and the other, she works alone. Her most favored way to work things. She gets away with a lot more that way.Always a great read, Phyrne Fisher is a hero and well beyond her time.Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Either of the two investigations would have been a full plate for most people but this story investigates a magazine and a murder of the author of Fairy Stories (with bonus Hard Times snark); the author has died of poisoning and this leads to Phryne being involved with a magazine. Entertaining stuff.At the same time Lin Chung is late returning from a silk-buying expedition to China and Phryne and his family are worried. During her investigation she finds herself in danger and realises how much Lin Chung means to her.Interesting but somehow I didn't feel engaged.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book had it moments but, overall, blah.

[treehorse-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Plot time was spent between two different mysteries, and although both are important to Phryne, I wish they had been pulled together more cohesively.