What's not to live about Miss Fisher? Or forestry heroine takes us on another adventure, complete with innuendo and quips and always solves the mystery.

Queen of the Flowers falls foul of that risk to all cosy-type murder mysteries in that time story is far too dark for the light, sometimes flippant way it is written. Phrynne Fisher is a fun addition to the sleuthing canon, with her unconventional and adventurous life that cares little for the morés of her time. All well and good, with her wealth and privileged background she might even have got away with (some of) it in real life. But it gets a little Mary-Sue with her. There is nothing she cannot do and do well, little she hasn't seen our experienced and no situation that really shakes her, making her a little robotic and dull. Posts of the story are fun but it also dragged in a way that made it seem far longer than it is. I enjoy the TV series for an hour of escapism, I'll probably stick to that in the future.

I recently read and reviewed a “Modern Miss Fisher” mystery which led me back to the original novels by Kerry Greenwood. Phryne is a wonderful character and readers could do far worse than spending time with her in this historical mystery set in Australia.

Just as a parade is being organized, Phryne’s adopted daughter Ruth disappears. Is she off in search of her father? Will she be okay? And, what of another missing young woman?

Phryne is NEVER defeated so readers can be pretty sure that all will be well. Spending time with Phryne, Dot and other favorite characters makes this title most enjoyable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

A great book by a fantastic author. The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages. Characters are well developed. Highly recommend.

I'm sorry. Didn't finish.
I toiled up to the middle of the book, but at that point, I didn't care for anything. The story meandered around aimlessly, focusing on everyday details that added nothing to the story. The investigation on the disappearance of the girl was almost an afterthought and was conducted in such a chancy way that had nothing professional to it.
My least favourite of Miss Fisher's novels.

How I love Phryne Fisher and her inner circle of friends. I love the camaraderie and how everyone has a part to play in the household as well as in their mystery solving. This one was a little darker than the tv show but still enjoyable. The writing is witty and I found myself laughing multiple times.

Another enjoyable and fun book from Kerry Greenwood

Certainly one of my favourite Phryne Fisher stories. Bit of a slow burner but enabled the different characters to shine through. Love the writing. Love the stories.

Lots of twists and turns in this one - absolutely fabulous!

A seductive creature with a great wardrobe, Private Detective Miss Phryne Fisher does everything and only things she likes. She lives her dreams and dreams for more. She is exciting and dashing, invincible and loveable. Phryne translates French poetry and rides horses, fires a gun and suffers through dress fittings.
Oh, my, Phryne Fisher.
Now, back to the story at hand. If you are Phryne’s TV series fan, you’d seen ‘Queen of The Flowers’ episode. But, my advice to you, read the book. The book is way better and more complex and entertaining than the TV episode.
This installment of Miss isher’s adventure has everything, from missing child, to long lost father, pedophiles and shifty grandfathers, betrayals, deaths and… well flowers.
Miss Fisher comes back to dazzle us with her talents in and out of boudoir. She is so good at everything she does nobody can blame her for ‘bending corners’…
Honourable Miss Fisher is presiding once again.

With each one of Kerry Greenwood's witty and intelligent mysteries I become more enamored of her well-researched early 20th century Australia and the wonderful cast of characters she has assembled. I routinely search Netgalley for new titles! Plunge in anywhere you like; each tale stands alone but in a universe populated with a strong core of central characters and equally well-drawn peripheral or visiting cast. Phryne (FRY-knee but much more elegantly parsed by herself mid-book) Fisher is a Strong Woman and a great deal of fun as our main protagonist as she casually explains the "very salty" grapes are olives. As always, charming, elegant and superbly entertaining!

Late 1920's glamour. Courageous and witty heroine. What's not to love?

St Kilda's streets stand ready for the Flower Parade. And who else but Phryne Fisher should be chosen to be Queen of the Flowers ? Phryne needs, in no particular order, a dress, a swimming costume, and to solve a murder.

I thoroughly loved this book! I have not previously read the Phryne Fisher series, but will be seeking them out! Despite this being the 14th installment, it was easily relatable to a new-to-the-series reader.

Queen of Flowers

by Kerry Greenwood

Queen of Flowers opens with Phryne Fisher’s extensive fitting for a dress to be worn in a Melbourne parade as the chosen Queen of Flowers based on her charitable support. The whole household is turned on end for the fitting, an elephant makes an appearance in her yard, and that day turns out to be the most tranquil in the book.

Queen of Flowers is a masterpiece of complex plot. The carnival and circus are in town along with a violin player from Phryne’s past. Adopted daughter Ruth begins to wonder about her parents. Phryne takes her four flower girls (young ladies) in hand and discovers interesting aspects of their backgrounds. As usual, Phryne shows herself as a force to be reckoned with in dealing with some of St. Kilda’s shadiest characters. My one problem with the book was that when one of her daughters goes missing, Phryne is much calmer than one would expect.

All of Phryne’s “minions” are called in to help with the various mysteries that are amazingly connected. I felt like standing up and clapping with a loud “Well done!” as Greenwood tied up the plot threads successfully and delivered justice as deserved.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Poisoned Pen Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Notes: #14 of the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries; could be a standalone but better if you have some background on the characters

Publication: November 7, 2017—Poisoned Pen Press

Memorable Lines:

Phryne, the fiddler remembered, always existed as a still, self-possessed point in a maelstrom. Usually she had created the maelstrom herself.

Phryne…climbed the stairs in search of copious hot water to wash the Weston house off her skin. She had been in houses which ran black with fleas. She had been in rural cottages where the soot gloved the beams and the vulcanized grease on the kitchen walls had been classified by the National Trust. But she had never felt quite this grimy, and she didn’t like it.

He was a slick, hard-faced man with a chin on which one could break rocks, and thin red lips. His eyes were as compassionate and kind as chips of flint.

I discovered the Phryne Fisher mysteries by Kerry Greenwood thanks to the fabulous TV series based on the books. There are several differences between the books and the TV series, most notably the romantic interest in one of the typical will they or won’t they relationships between Jack Robinson and Phryne. In the books, he is a friend and that’s it. In the books, Phryne has a long continuing relationship with Lin, the married Chinese man whose wife is also Phyrne’s friend. Altogether too shocking for television. Clearly, the books are more interesting. While reading Queen of the Flowers, I kept thinking I must have missed the episode, but the only thing that remained the same are the names and the flower festival.

The book though is exactly what makes Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher series superior to your average series. We have Phryne Fisher, the wish-fulfillment private detective, rich, brilliant, and independent, with a gorgeous 1920s wardrobe and 2020s values. In its form, this is a cozy mystery series bedazzled with glamour and fashion, but in function? Phryne’s cases are much too gritty and grim for any of the letters in the word “c-o-z-y” except the “y” which we need for the mystery.

This time, one of the young girls who will participate in the floral parade with Phryne for the flower festival goes missing and she is hired to find her. She is a troubled girl and considered “fast” even though she is just a child. In fact, she is the perfect age to attract Judge Roy Moore, or as happens, men like Judge Roy Moore. Of course, Greenwood wrote this before Roy Moore’s scandal, so she had no idea that vast numbers of people will decide the child molestation is far less important than a tax cut, so in Phryne’s world, there is this universal condemnation and horror that obviously is no longer realistic.

Queen of the Flowers is a compelling mystery. It is, as always with Greenwood, well-researched with authentic details of time and place. Sometimes, the wealth of research is a bit too obvious in Greenwood’s books, but not this time. There is another storyline that gives us the backstory on one of Phryne’s adopted daughters that is heartwarming and foreshadowed just well enough for us to be just ahead of revelation. I love this series and continue to look forward to reading more.

I received an e-galley of Queen of the Flowers from the publisher through NetGalley.

Oh, I liked this one a lot. So much better than the TV episode based on this book. The more I read, the more I fall in love with this series. Circuses, parades, family drama, romances, loyalty and friendship, secrets, kidnapping, missing children, familial love, old lovers, current lovers, wines, continental gentlemen, brothels - it's a lot but it was a delightful mix. Miss Phryne Fisher does not lead a boring life, lol.

Phryne and minions are preparing for a parade where Phryne will be the Queen of Flowers and her attendants are young girls from moderately good families. But there's tension between the girls, they are keeping secrets, and then one goes missing. As Phryne investigates, she encounters an old lover, and one of her adopted daughters goes missing. There are several story threads; some come together quickly while others take longer to play out. There's a lot of family drama, both in Phryne's life and that of the missing flower attendant. It hit soap opera levels at times but I enjoyed it. There were some slow bits but overall the pacing was good.

The cast of characters is large and not every one appears in every book. Inspector Jack Robinson and his wife make an appearance but Jack's role in this book is less police officer and more friend. Lin Chung, Phryne's married lover is back and plays a somewhat larger part. I'm still not okay with Phryne being involved with a married man but I'm slowly getting used to him. I had a hard time believing how comfortable Lin's wife Camellia was with the situation; it doesn't strike me as realistic. It also feels unrealistic that Phryne doesn't suffer social consequences for her affair.

Other than, I enjoyed the book. In fact, I think it might be one of my favorites. "Queen of the Flowers" has Greenwood's usual rich and complex storytelling with fascinating, vibrant characters, extraordinary and ordinary circumstances, and strong, wonderful relationships. I enjoy the latter as much as the mysteries. And the worlds that Phryne walks through - high society, low society, mundane and dramatic, and everything in between. I also love that I always learn something when I read a Phryne Fisher books - a bit of history, social issues, fruit farming,life in different parts of the world, the inner workings of a newspaper in the 1920s - there's always something interesting.

Some favorite quotes:

It was amazing how one small, relatively slim cat could occupy a whole bed, Phryne thought drowsily. (Truth! ~ Bea)

The elephant was the last straw.

"There are good sailors,"said Phryne. "Well, some good sailors. In a way, they are ideal as husbands. They drop in every six months for a wild celebration, then they drop out again, before one gets bored with their company or annoyed by their habits."

It's always fun to enjoy Kerry Greenwood and Hon. Phryne do what they do so very well. Queen of the Flowers, originally published in 2004, and now, re-released by Poisoned Pen Press in a new edition, is the 14th book in the series.

The series is wonderfully full of a sense of place and fully realized characters. The descriptions are spot on. It's always a joy to read a new installment of Phryne and family's adventures. This book is perhaps slightly grittier and more realistic than previous books in the series. The subject matter is tawdry and sad (human trafficking and abuse, among other things). I liked very much that this book includes more back story for Phryne's daughter Ruth; I've always felt Ruth was more of a foil for Jane's more assertive/analytical personality, so it's nice to see and understand a little more of Ruth and her motivations.

Just a delightful read. Perhaps slightly darker than the average cozy mystery, but Ms. Greenwood can certainly write masterfully and entertainingly. Well worth a read.

Stats:
Title: Queen of the Flowers
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
256 pages, Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and other formats
Original pub. date: 2004, re-released in new edition Nov. 7, 2017

Five stars, I <3 Phryne

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

I am big fan of Ms Greenwood mysteries and this one is not an exception even if it is a bit less sparkling than others in this series. I really enjoyed it and Ms Fisher is always the same sparkling and clever self.
I would not recommend this book to people who has never read any other book in this series or just seen the TV show.
On a general level a very good mystery.

I am a huge fan of all detective series, however, I never got a chance to read any of Ms. Fisher's books. Therefore this is my very first novel from Ms. Fisher's Murder Series. Even though this is a #14 book from a series, it gave me a very thorough introduction to the main heroine, Phryne Fisher, her background, and family/friends. And oh boy, there is a lot to keep up with: circus, tea dances, tango competitions, etiquette lessons, flower festival, young love, kidnapping, a missing daughter, family reunion, attempted murder of a young girl... That is one big and entertaining rollercoaster.

Let's start with a missing Rose Weston. Weston's family friend requests Ms. Fisher's services to find the young girl. During the investigation, Phryne realizes that something shady is going on behind the doors of Weston's residence. After Phryne locates a half-alive body of Rose, she looks more thoroughly into the missing case, that later on discovers quiet unpleasant old and new secrets about Weston family.

The second story of the book involves Phryne's adoptive daughter, Ruth. It's a very heartbreaking story of young love, shattered by parent's disapproval and unfortunate terminal illness. Nevertheless, in books, every tragic story has a happy ending that brings us to a surprising but very sweet family reunion.

As mentioned above, the book was very entertaining, however, there were too many backstories. Although I was very happy to learn about our sassy detective, I felt a bit disappointed that the main story only took place in a second half of the book. However, I was charmed by Ms. Fisher and will definitely read more of her books.

This is from an advance review copy fro which I thank the publisher.

This is my third Phryne Fisher and the first I've liked. I loved the TV series, but the books (Cocaine Blues - the first and Murder and Mendelssohn the last - to my knowledge - Fisher mystery). They were less than thrilling, so it suggests to me that the TV writers/adapters can often be rather better than the original writer in capturing the quintessential main character in a series like this!

This is the 14th in the Fisher series so why it was available on Net Galley I have no idea, but I'm glad it was. I'm not a trivia buff, but I have read in some reviews by others who are following the entire series, that there are continuity errors causing them to speculate on who wrote this novel! I'm not one of those, and I haven't been reading the whole series, but continuity errors are not a good thing if you want to keep your regular fans happy. For me, a casual dabbler, it wasn't noticeable.

Also the TV show has Phryne in a relationship of sorts with the police inspector who is unimaginatively named Jack. This never blossoms into romance, but there is always a hint of it. In the books, Jack seems to be more of a bit player, particularly in this one, where he hardly puts in an appearance at all, and Phryne has no feelings for him. I sincerely wish authors would drag themselves out of this deep rut of calling their go-to guy Jack, because it's so tediously over-used that I flatly refuse to read any more novels that have a main character named Jack. Fortunately, this one really didn't!

So, you may have guessed by now that it was only because of my love for the TV show that I went back a third time into the books, but I was rewarded with an entertaining story this time, even if it was predictable and a bit of a slog at times. The Phryne here seemed a lot less engaged than in the TV show; she was less scintillating. At one point one of her two adopted daughters goes missing and Phryne never seems to show any anguish over it whatsoever. She is trying to find her, but there's not a whit of urgency or fear over it.

It's as though she has some secret information that her adopted daughter is just fine - which she was of course - but the problem here is that Phryne did not know any such thing - or if she did, then the author kept it from us. On the other hand, the author did indeed know that Ruth's disappearance was really nothing more than a red herring, if a slightly salty one. What was missing was some restrained panic in Phryne's demeanor. It did not read true. Either that or Phryne is far more sang-froid than is healthy for anyone, and particularly for her daughters' continued well-being. I think if perhaps the author had children of her own (to my knowledge she does not) she might have understood those feelings better and represented them more authentically.

The Goodreads review website predictably got the blurb wrong again. In it we're told that there is "a young woman found drowned at the beach at Elwood" but this is an outright lie! The woman is one of Phryne's flower girls for an upcoming parade, and she isn't drowned at all. Almost-drowned is right. Beaten and half-drowned would be better, but not "drowned." The Amazon-owned Goodreads corporate review web site has killed private review blogs like this one, and due to this and other issues I have both with Amazon and Goodreads, I refuse to post any more reviews at either site. They're too big, too powerful, and are becoming dangerous, so I guess they don't care if they get the blurb right Why would they? What incentive do they have?

The publisher though, ought to check on these things as they should verify that the Kindle version is formatted sensibly. I read some reviews which complained that it was not. Mine was fine as it happens, but Amazon's crappy kindle app is well-known for mangling texts. I've seen plenty of those. I recommend using PDF format, which can be problematic if trying to read it on a smart phone, or Barnes & Nobles's Nook format, which consistently renders books better than Kindle. B&N has its own problems, particularly a web site which actively gets in the way of your buying books! They need to fire their website designers.

All of that said, I enjoyed the pell-mell of this story, which featured something new popping-up regularly: a personal crisis or a parade crisis, or a new development in the story. It kept things moving in general, although at some points it felt a bit of a stretch or worse, a bit of a slog. That notwithstanding, overall I liked the story, and consider it a worthy read.

As always, the Miss Fischer Books are a delight. When a young girl from the Court of Flowers (Phryne's latest endeavor) goes missing, she is quickly called upon for support by an untrustworthy friend of the family. If her instincts are correct, and when are they wrong, the young woman may have been up to more than school work and flirting with local boys. When Phryne's adopted daughter goes missing, there is no wrath like that of an angered Lady detective.