Murder and Mendelssohn (Phryne Fisher Mystery, #20)

by Kerry Greenwood

The twentieth Phryne Fisher murder mystery

An orchestral conductor has been found dead and Detective Inspector Jack Robinson needs the delightfully incisive and sophisticated Miss Fisher's assistance to enter a world in which he is at sea. Hedley Tregennis, not much liked by anyone, has been murdered in a most flamboyant mode by a killer with a point to prove. But how many killers is Phryne really stalking?

At the same time, the dark curls, disdainful air and lavender eyes of mathematician and code-breaker Rupert Sheffield are taking Melbourne by storm. They've certainly taken the heart of Phryne's old friend from the trenches of WW1, John Wilson. Phryne recognises Sheffield as a man who attracts danger, and is determined to protect John from harm.

Even with the faithful Dot, Mr and Mrs Butler, and all in her household ready to pull their weight, Phryne's task is complex. While Mendelssohn's Elijah, memories of the Great War, and the science of deduction ring in her head, Phryne's past must also play its part as MI6 become involved in the tangled web of murders.

A vastly entertaining tale of murder, spies, mathematics and music.

• ISBN10: 1742379567
• ISBN13: 9781742379562
• Publish Date: 28 September 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Imprint: Allen & Unwin
• Edition: Main
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[pamela]

I've just returned from a short trip back to my home of Australia to visit friends and family. In my former life there I worked for the National Trust and so my parents and my best friend were terribly excited to show me a popular Australian television series named 'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' which was filmed almost entirely on and in National Trust properties. I quite enjoyed it. It was enjoyable, it was a wonderfully filmed representation of 1930's Melbourne, and the characters were fun, if somewhat two dimensional.

I couldn't have been more disappointed when I decided to pick up a real Miss Fisher murder mystery. The titular protagonist, Phryne Fisher is the most unlikeable character to ever grace the page. She is vain, vapid, thinks far too highly of herself and seems more pre-occupied with which man she'll take home with her than with anything else.

The novel starts with the brutal murder of a choir conductor and then descends in to constant reminders of how much she loves champagne, a list of what she had for breakfast, and indeed every other meal for that matter, who she has, will or would like to sleep with, and a little bit of crime solving thrown in for good measure. But barely any.

The main crime is woefully underdeveloped, and Greenwood instead focuses on the relationship between Phryne's friend John and the object of his affection. It is true that someone is trying to kill the object of his affection, however it was a completely separate crime with nothing to tie it to the death of the choral master. Usually when we have two disparate crimes they come together, but in this case, so much had been given over to the relationship between the two men that it was almost as if Greenwood had forgotten that she had the actual murder to solve, and it was over and solved in a number of pages toward the end in a neat little package.

Maybe some of the other Phryne Fisher novels are better, but I didn't care enough for this one to read them and find out. I'll stick to the television show, and believe me, I feel dirty just even saying that.