Murder on the Ballarat Train (Phryne Fisher Mysteries)

Finally, another writer that has not disappointed me. Her Phryne Fisher series has made Kerry Greenwood one of my favorite authors. This second book in the series can be read alone, but does explicate the characters more fully. The Australian TV/DVD broadcasts are filmed on location.

Love these Phryne Fisher mysteries a great way of shortening the time on long drives. Kerry Greenwood must put a lot of time into research to give authentic period descriptions and Stephanie Daniel has an amazingly wide range of voices to entertain the listener as she reads. Thanks

I enjoyed the book as the previous ending Ms. Fisher mysteries. My only complaint...the book is only 152 pages long. It should've been listed as a novella. The price of the books were $2.99 but as this series is getting more popular the prices are more than doubling which for a kindle novella is too high considering you are not paying for printing, binding or distribution.

I love the tv show Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I just had to check out the books. Of course there are differences, ie, Jack and Phryne don't have a thing. It doesn't matter though. It's still nice to have something to fill the gap until the next season of the show.

I love Phryne Fisher. This brilliant, dazzling heroine is one of my favorite "Private Eyes."
The author's knowledge of Australia, Melbourne, and the Roaring Twenties creates an ambiance I love.
For me, murder mysteries are fantasy. Nobody runs into as much death as Miss Marple or anybody else in the world. But I love them anyway. They are a modern urban fantasy of an unacknowledged type.
They give us an interesting window into the past, into people's psyche, and motivations.
On Ballarat Train, I'm sure I could poke a dozen holes into the mystery and motivations, but I loved all the characters, and Phryne is slowly collecting a wonderful little squad of helpers. Dot is a fantastic character, Detective Inspector Jack, ditto. Her two stalwarts, Burt and Cec, are men with lives and motivations of their own. I love how Mr. and Mrs. Butler develop! And now Jane comes to the group. And each character is a different kind of person and well drawn.

Another slender romp by the first lady of female detectives, Phryne Fisher. Certainly the most glamorous of 1920’s Australia. I happen to think she’s one of the best detectives to arise in a very long time among the characters of crime fiction While her time on and off the train to Ballarat my not be her finest hours, Phryne Fisher manages to pull off a very delicious coup and add to her family in Melbourne.

This is the primary importance of this novel; it explains the presence in later books of two minor if charming characters, the children Jane and Ruth. With her faithful Watson at her side in the person of her maid Dot, the Hon. Ms. Fisher goes off by sedate train to Ballarat for a week of R & R. They are hardly on their way, settled in for the night in the sleeping car, when Phryne detects skullduggery. There is poisonous gas about. Does she scream for the conductor? Of course not. She pulls forth her trusty .32 cal. Beretta and plugs the glass out of their sleeping compartment window, thereby rousing officials and neighbors and saving several lives in the process.

Things descend from there. Determining why chloroform is being foisted on the passengers is interrupted by encounters with a young escapee from a white slave operation and back in Melbourne, several delicious encounters with member of a local rowing team, every one of them apparently an engaging young man.

It all gets sorted out in the end, of course, under the sure guiding hand of author Greenwood, but not without her usual dead-on pot shots at some of the less savory aspects of our society. Another delightful and thoughtful criminous novel in this continuing series.

In her third mystery novel Phryne is hired to solve the murder of a cranky old woman aboard a train—in which the flapper-sleuth has a personal stake: she and several other passengers were almost collaterally chloroformed to death. Plus she is puzzled by the appearance of a young girl who seems to suffer from amnesia. Readers must navigate through Australian terminology, raunchy expressions, and general late ‘20’s pop culture—including the new fad of mesmerism (Hypnosis). Of course Phryne is aided by loyal Dot, her maid/companion, and by the taxi duo of Bert and Cec. She also relies on the nefarious knowledge of an underdeveloped gal named Klara, who at 23 appears prepubescent.

One marvels at the casual laxity of Australian adoption laws--as well as Phrynie’s generous nature (to adopt two girls–with the definite plan of sending them away to school.) Casually hopping into bed with any young Adonis who crosses her path, she is content to let her private morality take care of itself. Greenwood includes hints re the need for social reform: as in equality of rights for women (Law, Medicine). Having been lead to expect a hint of romance between Phrynie and Detective-Inspector Jack Robinson from the delightful PBS series, I was disappointed to discover that in this novel he is married.

Despite a few references to the two previous novels, this is clearly a stand-alone work. Such a shame that women in the police force had a hard time of it in yet another male-dominated sphere--and received No respect. No Miss Fisher novel would be complete without detailed descriptions of clothing (shabby and costly), meals (at both ends of the spectrum) and interior surroundings; from a nasty flop house, a shabby Victorian, to Phyrnie’s luxurious home at 221B The Esplanade. She’s one liberated gal who can shock and amaze all male comers, defend herself very well, and is adept with a small hand gun. But her best weapon combating the Melbourne underworld is her swift and resourceful brain. Let’s hear it for Girl Power—guys: be prepared to be impressed!

The Honorable Phryne Fisher, British ex-pat now living in Melbourne, Australia, can't even board a train without stumbling onto a mystery. While en route to Ballarat in Victoria, the train's passengers are chloroformed and an elderly lady disappears from the train. At the same time, an amnesiac young girl appears on the train. The woman's daughter, Eunice Henderson, hires Phrynne to investigate the disappearance. So Phryne embarks on solving two mysteries: a disappearance and an appearance. Needless to say, Phrynne discovers the solutions with daring and aplomb.

Has there ever been any woman as sexy and clever as Phryne? Probably not. Yet, it doesn't matter. The mysteries are excellent (although most readers will deduce who killed Mrs. Henderson before Phryne does), and the novel provides a glimpse of life in Australia in the 1920s and the culture shock of the arrival of a flapper -- someone who smoked, drank, unabashedly took lovers, drove herself, and donned trousers -- in what was then a backwater. In the mold of Dorothy Parker and Isadora Duncan, Phryne Fisher enjoys life to the fullest, extends her generosity to the less fortunate, and isn't afraid to be herself. Beautiful, wealthy, fashionable, exciting, sexy, kind, and clever: Who wouldn't love her?

Phryne Fisher and her maid Dot are travelling by train to Ballarat when someone tries to chloroform the whole carriage and an elderly lady is murdered. Thanks to Phryne’s quick thinking no one else suffers any lasting ill effects from the frightening experience. Phryne is asked by the victim’s daughter to investigate the murder.

I enjoyed this fast paced story and thought it was well plotted. This is the third in the series Bert and Cec the taxi drivers find themselves investigating a mystery of their own. As well as showing the life of the rich the story features the lives of the poor and the seedy underbelly of Melbourne, Australia in the nineteen twenties.

The book is well written with plenty of touches of humour as well as the serious side of the mystery. If you enjoy Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple series then you may enjoy Phryne Fisher as well. The books can be read in any order.

Enjoying this series. Phryne and Dot are on the train when someone chloroforms the whole first class carriage. Phryne is a light sleeper so woke up saving the day except for one of the passengers who is missing. Phryne is asked to investigate alongside the police. Meanwhile she is also tasked with identifying a little girl that is lost with no memory. Interesting how it is the same but different from the TV version of this book.