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highlyeccentricI want to get in the habit of writing up occasional multi-paragraph reviews, as well as WAYRW posts with the ecclectic range of comments I put on goodreads. Plus for once I have a photograph that complements an e-book, for instagram purposes.
Kerry Greenwood: Death Before Wicket (Phryne Fisher #10)
This was a delightful romp, albeit one which had me madly cross-referencing historical USyd figures to see who was fictional and who wasn't. (And seething about the fact that the Hours of Juana the Mad are an actual book with known provenance, which was definitely never held - let alone lost - in Sydney.)
In points entirely typical of the Phryne Fisher books, you can expect parties, cocktails, side characters with a penchant for witty banter, extravagant costumes, and at least one (1) sex scene. This book sees Phryne going to Sydney to answer a call for help from two undergraduates, concerned that their colleague may be expelled. Along the way she gets entangled with practitioners of the occult, a notorious brothel madam, entirely too many professors, and assorted debauched poets. I particularly appreciated Christopher Brennan's accurate-to-type bit part appearance as a drunkard poet, A++ work there. A sub-plot involving two different wives and mothers pulled by circumstances into the sex trade is well handled, interesting, and a good supplement to the main theft/attempted murder plot.
There's something slightly odd about the central plot premise, which, without giving too much away, involves in part a rivalry between a professor of Egyptology and a professor of anthropology over the allocation of funding (archaeological research, or work with indigenous australians). The anthropologist is carefully characterised as someone who genuinely respects his indigenous hosts, and opposes mining on their sacred lands (nice contemporary reference there), which... is fair enough, given that the historically more likely situation would make unpleasant reading, and cosy crime relies on most characters being essentially likeable. The Egyptologist, though, is portrayed as particularly interested in Egypt because there he can pursue relationships with younger men, and... the gross colonialisms of that are not interrogated. There's a lot of deflecting going on, essentially.
In short, a good read, but not one that exhibits the best of Kerry Greenwood's ability to navigate historical diversity and the racial politics of 1920s Australia.
Kerry Greenwood: Death Before Wicket (Phryne Fisher #10)
This was a delightful romp, albeit one which had me madly cross-referencing historical USyd figures to see who was fictional and who wasn't. (And seething about the fact that the Hours of Juana the Mad are an actual book with known provenance, which was definitely never held - let alone lost - in Sydney.)
In points entirely typical of the Phryne Fisher books, you can expect parties, cocktails, side characters with a penchant for witty banter, extravagant costumes, and at least one (1) sex scene. This book sees Phryne going to Sydney to answer a call for help from two undergraduates, concerned that their colleague may be expelled. Along the way she gets entangled with practitioners of the occult, a notorious brothel madam, entirely too many professors, and assorted debauched poets. I particularly appreciated Christopher Brennan's accurate-to-type bit part appearance as a drunkard poet, A++ work there. A sub-plot involving two different wives and mothers pulled by circumstances into the sex trade is well handled, interesting, and a good supplement to the main theft/attempted murder plot.
There's something slightly odd about the central plot premise, which, without giving too much away, involves in part a rivalry between a professor of Egyptology and a professor of anthropology over the allocation of funding (archaeological research, or work with indigenous australians). The anthropologist is carefully characterised as someone who genuinely respects his indigenous hosts, and opposes mining on their sacred lands (nice contemporary reference there), which... is fair enough, given that the historically more likely situation would make unpleasant reading, and cosy crime relies on most characters being essentially likeable. The Egyptologist, though, is portrayed as particularly interested in Egypt because there he can pursue relationships with younger men, and... the gross colonialisms of that are not interrogated. There's a lot of deflecting going on, essentially.
In short, a good read, but not one that exhibits the best of Kerry Greenwood's ability to navigate historical diversity and the racial politics of 1920s Australia.