So, the day of my housemove I found myself at central station yearning for some comfort reading. Something silly and quick to read, something to whisk me away to another time and place and make me feel all warm inside. So I bought this and proceeded to read it in two days (aah, long train journeys were good for something!). Mermaidgrrl bought me my first one in this series when I flew back to Sydney from Brisbane in September. She picked it out at the airport, after declaring that I needed a trashy romance (which I thouroughly agreed with - she is after all a nurse, I trust her diagnosis - and sunk into with relief on the plane). In brief, this series features a woman called Phryne Fisher who is an heiress in 1920's Melbourne, Australia, and although fabulously wealthy and happily whiling away her days with cocktails, lovers, philanthropy, being arch and witty and keeping an eye of her adopted daughters, does a little bit of crime solving in her spare time.
What busy working Aussie woman wouldn't entertain the fantasy of being swathed in silk, sporting a fetching classy bob, having servants (who are gartefuly emplyed as such, and ever so loyal and warm), being adored by men and women alike and getting to nut out juicy crimmes over a cool mint juleppe? No wonder she's gone ahead and written squilions of books.
So - any good? yeah kind of. Some firm feminist stances scattered through this one - which I thoroughly approved of - the requisite insight into some random piece of histo-geography (in this case, silk trading and pirates in the south seas), lots of outfits described in meticulous detail, bitchy suspects who are all either shagging or blackmailing each other, and some rompety pompety bedroom action for the leading lady (oh tasteful mind, ever so tasteful). Not sure that I need any encouragement to conjure up my inner style-queen-bossy-hyperpampered-girl around town though, so may read them sparingly lest I begin clisking my fingers for Astin Martins that don't exist and wearing drapey silk things to match my clouche hats and silk underwear.
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