This is latest title by Kerry Greenwood in the series of books starring Phyrne Fisher, the 1920s Australian private detective. I haven't read any of these before but had seen some of the episodes on the TV series. The book is more graphic and less saccharine then the TV series. I enjoyed the book but there felt that there was some disjointment between the two crimes that are at the centre of the story. One involves the murder of a conductor of a choir about to perform Mendelssohn's Elijah, whilst the second involves the attempted murder of a speaker on the Art of Detection. It felt like two stories being shoehorned together and they didn't quite fit that and they should have been 2 short stories. Having not read any of the author's previous books in this series I can't say if this is her way of writing or if this is a one-off.
Apart from that I did enjoy the book, Phyrne is an engaging and believable character and the 1920s setting, with the shadow of World War 1 and its impact on survivors reminds us that the Roaring Twenties was a period when people tried to forget what they had lived through.
If you like your crime stories with a good sense of time and place and a slightly darker edge (but not that dark) this is a series for you - but the books are not the same as the TV series!
This title was provided free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
