Kerry Greenwood Cocaine Blues

Cocaine Blues

Kerry Greenwood

Poisoned Pen, Mar 2006, $24.95, 360 pp.

ISBN: 1596582438

It is the height of the London season, but the Honorable Phyrne Fisher is bored when the Colonel, and his wife asked her to check on their daughter Lydia in Australia. She jumps at the chance. They fear that someone is poisoning Lydia, because when they see her she looks sickly, but upon returning home she appears very healthy. Phyrne arrives in Melbourne loaded with baggage as she meets cabbies Bert and Cec, who take her to the Windsor Hotel.

She meets Dorothy Bryant, who is waiting outside a certain establishment with a knife in her hands. She befriends the woman, who was almost raped by her employer's son before getting fried. Phyrne gets revenge on the bloke and hires Dorothy as her maid; she also finds a way to meet Lydia at a soiree. She promises Cec and Bert she will help them find a butcher abortionist who is killing innocent girls. Phyrne also becomes entangled with a troupe of exiled Russians who seek revenge on the person who got a family member hooked on coke. She promises to help them too, as this is a part of a normal day for the re-invented Phyrne.

This is the first Phyrne Fisher mystery, which introduces readers to the sleuthing origins of a highly regarded protagonist. She is a strong believer in women's rights, but works within the system to get what she wants, whether it is information or sex with a partner of her choice. As always, 1920's Australia is fascinating, as Kerri Greenwood uses vivid descriptions to make it come alive in the mind's eye.