The Honorable Phryne Fisher has always been somewhat of a trouble magnet. It isn’t that she does anything to attract trouble, it just seems that trouble follows her around.

In Dead Man’s Chest: Phryne Fisher #18 (Phryne Fisher Mysteries), Miss Fisher has arranged to rent a holiday home in Queenscliff. The plan was a vacation with her faithful assistant Dot, her two adopted daughters, Ruth and Jane, and of course Molly the dog. But things are never really that easy for Miss Fisher.

They arrive just in time to save a young lad from bullies, only to later discover the holiday home empty. Utterly and completely empty. They find that there is nothing much of value left behind.

Not only are the married couple who act as caretakers not there to greet Miss Fisher, but the artwork is missing and the larder has been completely emptied right down to the tea and flour.

Better Than The TV Show

I have to admit I’ve always been a fan of the Miss Fisher Murders on TV. This, however, is the first book I read, and I have to say I’ve been missing out. The TV show, while exciting and fun, does not give the level of detail you get with the book.

The author has done a particularly good job describing and writing Miss Fisher. Every detail hints at the unusual life that she has led. Her unusual backstory explains her exceptional insights and empathy.

In the Dead Man’s Chest, the author is able to make you feel like you are right in the center of the action. This really is so much better than watching the TV series. I will definitely be reading more of these mysteries.

Reviewed for LnkToMi iRead in response to a complimentary copy of the novel provided by the publisher in hopes of an honest review.

After a taxing investigation, Miss Fisher is offered a house in Queenscliffe for a month's holiday. While she is away, taking her adopted daughters, Jane and Ruth, her companion, Dot, and their dog, Molly. The efficient Mr. and Mrs. Butler are left behind in Melbourne to oversee renovations to Miss Fisher's bathroom, and perhaps a holiday of their own. They are expecting to be greeted by the Johnsons, the caretakers of the house. Instead, they find an open door and no Johnsons to be seen. Could it be foul play?

Dead Man's Chest is a romp through 1929 Queenscliffe. Miss Fisher deals with events featuring missing caretakers, smugglers, delinquent adolescent boys, a tipsy neighbor, a new canine addition to the household, the introduction of a new ongoing character, the filming of a movie, a downtrodden ladies companion and a search for pirate booty with her customary panache. She even falls in with a group of surrealists who lend comic relief. Along the way, the Fisher family consume an alarming amount of food, provided by the aspiring cook, Ruth.

As always, Dead Man's Chest is a delight. I enjoy the sly humor and wealth of period detail in the Miss Fisher Mysteries about a time and place of which I know little. Thanks to NetGalley and Allen and Unwin for an advance digital copy of this reprint edition.

RATING- 4 Stars

I have never read a Miss Fischer Mystery, or seen the TV Series’, but the cover looked so glamorous that I just couldn’t resist requesting it.

This is a very special treat. Phryne (Pronounced Fry-knee), is a fun, glamourous, open minded woman, way ahead of her time. And her time, 1920s Australia is depicted brilliantly, with the food, the hair and the very glamorous clothes. The food, the dresses, her Gin Cocktails and ‘gaspers’ really set the scene, and the mystery of the disappearance of the Johnsons is almost a side story.

Very entertaining, I felt for Phryne at times due to the revolving door that her vacation home was as there was always someone coming in.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publishers for an advance ERC for an honest review.

Always a good read and adventure with Miss Fisher. This one finds Miss Fisher and family heading for a vacation while the Butlers supervise a remodel at home. I was a little concerned that not having the usual backup of support characters the story might be a little less enjoyable - I should not have worried. Miss Fisher finds a lot of interesting characters on her vacation. I really enjoyed the bit of highlight on Dot and Hugh and the daughters Ruth and Jane.

Fun mystery novel perfect for fans of all things Miss Fisher.

Phyrne goes on holiday to Australia with her companions in this installment of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Set in the 1920s, the group have planned to stay the summer in a home rented from an acquaintance and are eager to settle in and hit the beach, but another mystery awaits them in the home. The housekeepers who are supposed to be there to greet them are nowhere to be found. The mystery only gets stranger when they find that every single item from the pantry is missing as well. The sugar, tea, flour all missing. Nothing left behind. The police seem to brush it off and expect they did a runner, but when a few days later the couple’s beloved dog shows up on the doorstep covered in filth Phyrne decides that she must find them on her own. Something clearly is not right and she and her companions will get to the bottom of it.


This energetic mystery was a fun read, although I will say that at times I felt like the uninvited guest at the party who had no idea what was going on. If you can get through the unnecessary pages with the surrealist group and the sometimes too accurate to the times and place language then you will enjoy this light read.

Post Live November 1st

This time the mystery-solving Phryne Fisher is on vacation in Australia staying at a friend's house by the sea. This historical mystery was a delight. The couple who were to act as servants where they will be staying turns up missing, although they did leave a cute little dog. Each and every character had something good to add to the mystery. I especially enjoyed Phryne’s visit with the surrealists. If you love Miss Fisher, you will love this book.

I obtained this book through Net Galley and have left an honest review.

Can't go wrong with Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher mysteries. Well written and fun to read.

Super easy to get into. From the first paragraph, I was drawn straight into Phryne Fisher’s world. The writing is wonderful and made the book feel more real to me than my actual life!

And all the food descriptions! Knowing what characters what like to eat makes them 10x more realistic to me. There are even about 3 recipes at the end of the book for some of the food they ate. And little gems like this made me smile:

“Dot supplied herself, Jane, Ruth and Tinker with cocoa and a few biscuits to guard against night starvation.”

I can relate to people that aren’t happy until they have planned when and what their next meal will be.

Descriptions of people are so well done I could imagine myself there in the book next to them.

“Madame Sélavy was tall, thin and haggard. Her face was bony, her nose beaky, her eyes as bright as pins. She was heavily made-up, white paint and red lips and kohl around the eyes. She wore a draped gown which Princess Eugenie might have considered overdecorated, dripping with black and gold bugle beads, embroideries, tassels and fringes to the utmost tolerance of woven cloth. She smelt strongly of patchouli. Rings burdened every finger, her neck was wrapped in pearl-studded chains and a band of brilliants encircled her throat. “

The main mystery was solved by an unlikely coincidence. I can forgive this because there was some decent investigating up to that point and Phryne did solve one of the sub-mysteries. That was enough to keep me happy so I’m not too bothered about the coincidence that was thrown in there.

There are a few loose ends that I can’t work out. I’m not entirely sure what the point of the treasure hunt was, or what the bit in the cave near the end was about. And when the two men tried to abduct Phryne, who was watching from the neighbour’s house and why?

Everything else about the book I loved. I’ve read two in the series now and Phryne Fisher is already one of my favourite book characters. You’ve got to admire a woman that will quite happily abandon her clothes if it helps her escape the grasp of an attacker.

An absolute delight, this is a feel-good story that is perfect for a weekend of indulgent reading.

Thanks once again to NetGalley and Poison Pen for a copy of this Miss Fisher book. Another great read - who would have thought, Miss Fisher on holiday? An original slant to this tale in the series. A mystery book with lots of humour and endearing characters. As usual, old friends and new ones introduced. I strongly suggest any Miss Fisher fan, or fan of this genre buy the book. You will be well entertained.

I received an advanced copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for a non-biased review. This is the 18th book in the series and the 4th that I have read. This was my favorite book in the series thus far. Phryne Fisher, along with her maid and companion, Dot, her adoptive daughters Ruth and Jane, and dog Molly are off to spend a relaxing holiday in Queenscliff by the sea. Phryne has been given free use of a house their while the owner is out of town and arrives expecting the home's servants, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, to be there waiting for them. But they find that the normally reliable Johnsons have disappeared, the back door is open and all the food is gone. But this is no going to stop Miss Fisher from showing her family a nice holiday, but still investigating the disappearance. Phryne Fisher is a great character, and this book is all about characters. As she is described by another, "She's wonderful! What a bonzer sheila, the boss is!" There's not a lot of action or any great mystery to solve. This is more about character and a great sense of time and place. There is a wonderful 1920s atmosphere, and details of running a household, both upstairs and downstars, the early motion picture business and a charming group of surrealists who live next door. But most of all this is about Phryne Fisher, flapper icon, female detective, friend, parent and someone that you don't want to get on the bad side of. This was a fun book with a truly great female lead. And by the way, if you have seen the TV episode, the story in the book is entirely different.

Thank you to Kerry Greenwood, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this novel. I have had Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on my #tbr list since a good friend recommended the tv show and mentioned that there was a book series. I will have to thank her- this series is everything that I was looking for right now. It was a very entertaining book and I can't wait to read more! I do wish that I had read previous novels in the series first, however.

After reading a couple of Kerry Greenwood books, I've fallen in love not with the stories but the style of her writing.

I love the characterizations. All different. Phyrne Fisher private detective extraordinaire. Like Miss Marples mystery and murder follows her, even on holiday as in this case. Her adopted daughters with a very difficult history behind them, her companion the prim Miss Dot. Those she picks on the way
Tinker the odd job boy whom she brushes up and who now adores the Guvnor, the maid Mairie a waif desperate for love and attention and all those who meet her on her journeys.

The story itself is a by the way to the life, descriptions and characters in the story. Their day to day life and how it unfolds around a mystery is even better than the mystery itself. The detail of everyday living, the differences in each person all put together give one a delightful read. Something reminiscent of Delafield in a way, with of course a mystery or a couple of murders thrown in for good measure.

Love the writing style and only disappointed that there are no more I can request for from Netgalley.

Goodreads and Amazon review up on 6/10/2017. Review on my blog 26/10/2017. Also linked to my FB page.

This is a fantastic series! We need more books with characters like Phryne!

Do you love Miss Fischer (and if you do not, then you should!)? Miss Fischer takes her motley crew on a seaside vacation. The ambiance of the coastal town and delightfully quaint. The characters in the town are each interesting in their own right, which is not always the case in a mystery. Miss Fischer is brilliant and entertaining, as she should be. Mysteries seem to find Miss Fischer, and there are several for her to solve in this town before she can truly enjoy her sea bathing and cocktails on the balcony. I don't know that the mysteries are terribly hard to solve, but the story is character-driven and the characters are interesting. I greatly enjoyed the new additions to the Fischer household.

DEAD MAN’S CHEST by KERRY GREENWOOD
What I love best about Phryne Fisher is her kindness toward those in need of a bit of help, and second best, her courage and ability to take on any scoundrels she encounters on the way (and then there is that lovely style — for her own pleasure, not to impress anyone else). A quiet holiday in Queenscliff is anything but, with servants missing from the house and a frightening hair bandit cutting girls’ braids off. Rumors of pirate treasure bring a movie crew, and dangerous smugglers bring Hugh to the scene. Daughter Ruth gets a chance to try her cooking skills, and Jane tries out acting. Phryne’s courteous treatment earns the loyalty of a “lazy” servant boy and other young people, glad of a chance to shine. A group of surrealists adds to the confusion. This was a thoroughly satisfying adventure.

My “something new” learned: Mens sana in corpore sano is a Latin phrase, usually translated as "a sound mind in a sound body"

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for free in exchange for an honest review.
Dead Man’s Chest finds Phryne and company on holiday in Queenscliff. They arrive at the house Phryne has borrowed to find the expected staff, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, missing under suspicious circumstances. Phryne is, of course, on the case. It doesn't take long to realize more is amiss in Queenscliff than just the missing Johnsons.
Dead Man’s Chest is an excellent romp with Miss Fisher! I enjoyed every page of it. I highly recommend enjoying an afternoon or two with Miss Fisher and the beverage of your choice.

My favorite of the Phryne Fisher books, Dead Man's Chest is escapism at its finest! With a wonderful main character and equally excellent and lovable supporting characters, I didn't want this book to end. Very highly recommended!

Phryne Fisher, PI, decides her family needs a holiday in Queensland. On arrival, she finds the housekeeper and her husband have gone, apparently taking their possessions with them. There is also a snipper on the loose cutting off girl's braids. As always Phryne is fun and determined to find out what has happened to the housekeeper. She's never far away from a death or two.

All Miss Phryne Fisher and her adopted family want is a nice, quiet holiday in Queenscliff. Just a few days at the beach, far away from the city...

But, Phryne being Phryne, she attracts danger wherever she goes. As they arrive at the house they rented for the holiday, they realize the housekeepers have been abducted, the pantry raided, and the valuables missing. Summoning a local constable, Phryne realizes that if she wants to know what happened, she will have to investigate herself. Soon, she finds herself in the midst of domestic problems, loss, kidnapping, an attempted murder, a smuggling enterprise, and searching for the "Phantom Pigtail Snipper", and, oh yes, a pirate treasure.

This was a fun one. The atmosphere Greenwood created was very different in this one, and you could relax along with Phryne while she and her family enjoyed themselves. The mysteries were all connected to the various interesting people Phryne meets (which, this time, include a bunch of Surrealists who were very interesting), and it was, as always, expertly drawn.

The more I read by this wonderful author, the more I realize how wonderfully she can create atmosphere: due to her meticulous research, you always like you are right there with Phryne, and the people she meets are so much a result of this atmosphere, it is amazing how natural it all feels.

This is definitely one of my favorite Phryne books so far, and could be read as a stand-alone. Not that I'm advising missing out on anything, but I think this would be a good introduction to Phryne for anyone who has never read one of the books :)