UnCovered
review by Pam Saunders, ACLS Mays Landing Librarian
The
waiting is over! After seven years, there is a new Phryne Fisher mystery to
revel in: several mysterious goings-on, some involving deaths and others not,
all the interpersonal twists and turns of Phryne’s household menagerie of folk
who would otherwise have slipped through society’s cracks, two critters, and
her diverse friends, and the background details of life in 1920s Melbourne
(Australia) and environs.
Phryne
travels to Daylesford with her trusted companion Dot for a country sojourn at
the invitation of a somewhat mysterious retired Captain Herbert Spencer, who
runs a retreat for Victoria’s shell-shocked WWI veterans and hopes for Phryne’s
monetary support. Any thoughts of relaxation soon depart, however, as a murder
occurs at a local Highland Games which bears similarities to a prior and then
subsequent death. And then there is the matter of a spate of disappearances – local
married women who have disappeared without a trace over a period of some years.
Meantime,
back home in Melbourne, Phryne’s three wards become involved in solving the
mystery of the drowning death of their schoolmate, along with Dot’s fiancé
police Sergeant Hugh Collins, socialist taxi-drivers Bert and Cec, and
household butler and housekeeper Mr. and Mrs. Butler.
Phryne
ties up all the various mysteries with her usual panache and returns home to be
regaled the adventures of her brood as she observes their growing maturity and
social consciences to match her own.
Fast-moving
but complicated, and studded with humorous prose (a police officer’s
five-o’clock shadow is described as looking “as if he had just gone three
rounds with a cheese-grater and been defeated on a technical knock-out”), this
latest entry in the series will delight both series fans, fans of the
Australian TV shows based on the books, and newcomers alike. This is the
twenty-first novel in the series, and while having read the previous titles
helps in understanding the characters’ relationships, one can start here
without reading those that came first – although be forewarned that Phryne can
be very addictive and you may find yourself binge-reading from the beginning.