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Flying Too High
Phyrne Fisher series #2

by Kerry Greenwood



      This is the second in the acclaimed series about Phyrne Fisher, the irrespressible Twenties flapper who solves crimes and lives life to the full. In this book she moves out of the hotel into a house, goes stunt flying, poses nude, solves the murder of a truly awful man, and rescues a kidnapped child--all in just over 150 pages!

The biggest crime here is how the Aussies managed to keep such a treasure all to themselves for so long, as this book was originally published back in 1990. Apart from van Gulik (whose works this in no other way resembles) I cannot think of another crime writer who can cram so much into so few pages. It has all the joy of a favorite childhood book with the added thrill of being for adults. Mix P.G. Wodehouse with Nancy Drew and you might get the idea, but there is a wholly Aussie ambience here, with good period detail and lots of understated good humor. Phyrne is a charmingly practical heroine who has plenty of chic, sassiness and vigor, to make this another story about serious themes (the kidnapper is a child molester, and the murdered man abused his daughter and beat his wife), but with that classic whodunit sense of fun. May they re-release the whole glorious series.

The Book

Poisoned Pen Press
July 2006
Hardback
1590582373
Historical Crime [1928, Melbourne, Australia]
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: Mentions of adult themes

The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2006
NOTE:
© 2006 MyShelf.com