I first heard of Kerry Greenwood a few years ago - her series of mystery books focusing on Phryne Fisher was presented amongst various cozy mysteries, this kind of mystery which prohibits swear words, sex or violence. I was then between two minds - on the one hand, it seemed really I wasn't the target audience for this as I don't avoid all those things in my reading or indeed in real life (except for the violence part, obviously). On the other hand, I'm a huge fan of The Thin Man movie series which I suppose has elements of the cozy mystery (deaths are quick, you won't see Nora and Nick even sleeping in the same bed because of the Production Code and you won't hear them swear either (though I suspect Nora would). I didn't pick up Cocaine Blues then but it's always been at the back of my mind since.Recently, I've been wanting to check what the mystery genre had to offer me and I once again, when researching books to read, stumbled upon Phryne Fisher. 1920s, a good cover, good website - let's just try, I thought, since it seems to tick so many of my boxes. I don't have to finish it after all if it's not good enough.So happy I did! I was very pleasantly surprised by Cocaine Blues as it offered much more than I thought it would. We are introduced to Phryne Fisher, as I said, who's a rich woman who settles in Australia and solves mysteries. The book takes place in the 1920s and Phryne has all the elements of the flapper: she's high society, a great dancer and loves fashion. But there's more than that. Phryne Fisher is a free, unattached woman. In one scene she goes to church and is thoroughly bored by the sermons as she ponders that she's done a lot of what they say not to do and hasn't done a lot of what they tell people to do. She's not married and has some good times with a professional dancer. In another scene, she finds herself in the maternity ward of a hospital and explains to a nurse that she really doesn't want children - in a very funny moment, she holds a child's hand and tells him she hopes his mother will love him more than she does.Phryne may be rolling in money but she actually comes from a very poor background, something which allows her to think about not only those whom society caters for, but also those who are left in the margins: very early in the book, while she's on her way to Australia on a boat, she explains that the wealthy are given the names of two hotels to stay in and she wonders 'where the steerage passengers are advised to stay'. Her strongest friendships are with characters who have to work to live.In more ways than one, Phryne Fisher doesn't follow conventions and the setting of the 20s makes her modernity all the more believable.However, Phryne isn't the only thing I was pleasantly surprised with. The plot touches on many unexpected things: while making a strong case for the need for safe, legal abortion, it also depicts back-alley abortions and their consequences in vivid detail, something I was not expecting in a cozy. The book also introduces characters such as women doctors and shows the need for better health care for women and while showing the limited choices they are provided with, it also gives examples of inspiring female characters who are amongst the best in the book.The male characters are also very worthy of mention: one of them, a driver, provides some welcome commentary on class and assigned roles.The mystery itself is engaging and way more thought-provoking than I thought it would be. Phryne is a wonderful character to follow and I absolutely fell in love with all the secondary characters who are very decent human beings. Cocaine Blues was overall a near-perfect book: it's fun and light in places, the setting is just right, the dresses are just so, and there is the right amount of stolen necklaces. On the other hand, it's also got some of the most politically conscious choices I've seen in a long while and I'm extremely happy it's the first in a series of books for I was absolutely taken aback by its brilliance.In short - a fabulous read, Kerry Greenwood is an author after my own heart!
Phryne Fisher solves a mystery at a Society party in England and is asked by some guests to go to Australia and find out why their married daughter seems so healthy when she's visiting them but as soon as she returns home, she becomes sick again. Could her husband be poisoning her? Phryne returns to her native Australia, which she left in poverty as a child, now traveling First Class at her own expense. She travels with her good friend, the lady doctor Dr. MacMillan, who plans to work at a women's hospital in Melbourne. Upon arriving in Melbourne, Phryne discovers more mysteries to solve. There's a butcher of an abortionist on the loose despite raping and causing the deaths of several women. There's also a cocaine ring in Melbourne and no one knows who the Snow King is. She meets the exiled Russian Princesse de Grass and her grandchildren, Sasha and Ellie, talented ballet dancers, who are also searching for the cocaine dealer. Phryne is immediately attracted to Sasha but is wary that he wants more from her than she is willing to give. She's determined to solve all three mysteries with the help of her taxi driver friends Bert and Ces and Dr. MacMillan. This plot has WAY too much going on. It didn't hold my interest very well and I ended up skipping and skimming to the end. There was way too much graphic content in this novel for my taste. Not only is there cocaine, there is also abortion, stabbings, sex, sexual content, shooting and seedy locations. Not to mention motor cars speeding around Melbourne, which I am not used to. I don't think this time period appeals to me or I prefer characters who simply don't know any of the bad stuff exists or it all happens off page. I prefer more cutesy cozy mysteries set in the staid drawing rooms of Regency and Victorian London. I wasn't entirely surprised by the identity of the Snow King. I did suspect another character. The character I suspected doesn't even have a role in the plot until the very end so I felt they were superfluous and added to the density of the plot. I wasn't wild about Phryne. Though I appreciate Society women who buck the system, Phryne is a bit too free and loose for my reading tastes. She's also rather egotistical in believing herself capable of solving all the mysteries easily. She is also a bit cold. The story doesn't dig very deeply into her thoughts or feelings. Everything is told as a matter-of-fact. The characters I really liked were Bert and Cec, the Communist taxi drivers. They provide the comic relief and another mystery to solve. (Which didn't need to be in story at all). I also liked Phryne's new maid, Dot. She is a tough girl but also sweet and devoted to Phryne. I will read the next book in the series and see how I like it.
What do You think about Cocaine Blues (2007)?
A fully enfranchised flapper in Melbourne after the first War, Phryne Fisher is a heroine after anyone's heart, and Greenwood's prose does her full justice. Take this, for example:Phryne Fisher had a taste for young and comely men, but she was not prone to trust them with anything but her body.OrPhryne, carrying the cocktail, decanted it unobtrusively into a potted palm against which she had no personal grudge, and hoped that it would not give her away by dying too rapidly.In this first novel she busts up a Melbourne cocaine ring and contrives the arrest (and later the hanging, as this is back in the un-PC day of capital punishment) of a back-alley rapist/abortionist. Strong characterization, great setting, and a lot of talk about what she's wearing which makes you feel like you've wandered into an episode of The House of Elliott, but so what? A very enjoyable read.Fabulous cover art, too.
—Dana Stabenow
This is the first book in the Phryne Fisher series, and it's golden. The introduction is priceless, as the young lady puts Sherlock Holmes to shame in the instantaneous and almost offhand solving of the theft of a necklace. The whole book is a bit like that, brisk and breezy and offhand. Phryne Fisher is a creature unto herself, unconcerned by anyone's opinion and a bit puzzled, if anything, if it comes to her attention that someone disapproves; she's the sort who, if disapproval is detected, will proceed to emphasize that trait or behavior being frowned upon. She was born independent, and has no more real need for anyone than a frog needs a harmonica. Yet I liked her. Once I got used to her casual attitude toward sex and drugs (rock 'n' roll not having been invented yet), which were so not what I was expecting but which actually slotted into the time period well enough (there are reasons they were called the Roaring Twenties), I liked her. Not as much as I love Kerry Greenwood's other main heroine, Corinna, but I don't regret buying every single one of the books in the series. (Fortunately.)
—Tracey
In Cocaine Blues, the first volume in the long-running Phryne Fisher mysteries, Kerry Greenwood has set up all the necessities for a delightful series. The story was interesting and fast-paced, the author’s prose was simplistic in an elegant way, and the Honorable Miss Fisher herself was a delightful character I certainly want to read about again.I picked this book up because I wanted to read more mysteries, and this series seems to have a rather favorable reputation from readers of the genre. I didn’t, exactly, expect to enjoy it—mysteries and I have a complicated relationship. But I was quite pleased with what Greenwood did here. There was a wonderful balance of plot and character development, and the mystery itself was neither too predictable nor too far-fetched. And while Cocaine Blues certainly touches topics that are on the serious side (drugs, illegal abortions, rape, arsenic poisoning), the novel’s tone never loses the upbeat zaniness that Phryne Fisher brings to the table.Because this is the first book in a long series, Cocaine Blues is of course concerned with establishing its protagonist’s character. Phryne Fisher is absolutely the biggest draw of this book, and I adore her character and what Greenwood has done with it. Phryne is perhaps an anomaly of her time (1920s British aristocracy), but not unreasonably so. She flies planes, drives fast cars, engages in casual sex, and befriends various shady characters—and, of course, she solves mysteries. In Cocaine Blues, Greenwood introduces exactly the kind of protagonist I enjoy, and her attitude really made the mystery for me.Of course, the mystery itself was quite excellent as well. There were several threads running throughout the book, aside from the original set-up (Phryne is hired by a wealthy woman’s parents to find out why their daughter is so sick). There’s a case of botched illegal abortions performed by a rapist, and also an underground cocaine ring among the wealthy ladies of Melbourne. And while the multiple plot strand tactic isn’t unique in the genre, I liked that Greenwood pulled all the plot threads together into a cohesive story by the end. It made for a very satisfying, and mildly surprising, reveal.On top of all this, we have a wonderful historical setting: 1928 Melbourne. The establishment of setting/place is subtle and not rich in excessive detail, but rather is done subtly and deftly. The location and time period serve as an excellent backdrop for the larger goings-on in Cocaine Blues, and I thought the author did a very good job with it all.Altogether, Cocaine Blues was quite excellent. Phryne Fisher is a detective whose investigative style I quite enjoy, and Kerry Greenwood spins a mystery that I found engaging rather than dull or dry. In sum, this book was a lot of fun in a new and surprising way.Reviews & more at Respiring Thoughts
—Renae
