Kerry Greenwood Urn Burial

Urn Burial

Kerry Greenwood

Poisoned Pen, Dec 2005, $24.95, 202 pp/

ISBN 1590581695

The Honorable Phryne Fisher is a society lady who also is a private detective in Australia in 1928. Unable to fit into upper class British society because she feels the mores and customs were too restrictive for females, she ran away from home at eighteen to Paris and then to Australia. She is accepted by Polite Society even though she doesn't conform to the rules women are supposed to live by and her taking of Lin Chung, a Chinese aristocrat as a lover, almost causes a scandal due to prejudice.

The duo along with their servants and bodyguard Li Pen go to Cave House in the countryside to attend a party. Even before they arrive, a shot rings out and they rescue Lina, a servant girl who was brutally assaulted. When they arrive at the house, they find out their host is getting death threats. Later Phryne goes to Lina's room to find the young lady dead. When she goes to get help, in the time she is gone, someone steals the body and the people are trapped on the estate with a murderer due to high flood waters but Phryne is determined to root out the murderer who is threatening her host.

Kerry Greenwood is one of the best Australian mystery writers in recent years with a deserved fan base in the United States. Readers can't help but like the plucky woman who knows what she wants and goes after it including taking a Chinese man (unheard of in those days) and working as a private detective (something rich aristocrats just don't do). Her current who-done-it showcases a talented author and her terrific heroine.

Harriet Klausner