Links I have been meaning to post for ages...

All the Reasons Why You Should Be Watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (like, isn't everyone on board yet?)

Agent Carter, Episodes 1 and 2 (FAB recap!!)

best news EVER

I logged onto Facebook this morning to discover the BEST news! Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, which I absolutely ADORE, has finally been confirmed for a third series! This was in doubt for several months, presumably due to budget cuts, but thanks to its popularity, awards, and a successful fan campaign, Miss Fisher and Jack (!!!) and Hugh and Dot will return!! I AM THRILLED. The announcement on the show's official Facebook page states that filming is scheduled to start in October!

Jack & Phryne

Season two of Miss Fisher cannot get released in the US soon enough to suit me! I heart Jack and Phyrne!!

Review: Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood

Flying Too High (Phyrne Fisher #2)
By: Kerry Greenwood
Publisher: Poison Pen Press
ASIN: B006WAD0H2

Review:

Earlier this year, when news that the Australian period drama Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries was being released in the US, I took the opportunity to check out the first volume in the long-running series by Kerry Greenwood -- Cocaine Blues. While I enjoyed the fast-paced storyline, colorful cast of supporting players, and Greenwood's flair for the time period, I found the titular character's penchant for crass hook-ups and complete lack of a moral center when it comes to her "romantic" relationships distracting and off-putting. Since then, I've watched the entire first season of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and fallen hook, line, and sinker for the gloriously realized television incarnation of Greenwood's beloved characters, and decided it was long past time for me to give the show's source material another try.

Following the success of her first venture as a private investigator, chronicled in Cocaine Blues, Phyrne Fisher has continued to re-acclimate to life in Australia, determined to use the fame and notoriety that came with her first brush with Australia's criminal element as the launching point of a new and exciting career. Her first new case arrives in the form of one very distraught society wife, Mrs. McNaughton, afraid that her airplane-loving son Bill -- well-known for his temper and his money troubles -- is plotting to kill his louse of a father over a disputed loan. Phyrne is thrilled -- not only with the case, but with the opportunity it affords for her to practice her skills as an amateur aviatrix and connect with the local flying community. Meanwhile, the precocious daughter of a local lottery winner (and an associate of Bill's) is kidnapped and held for ransom. When the McNaughton family patriarch is found dead, Phyrne determine's to clear the son's name -- and in the process is drawn into the kidnapping case, quickly discovering that nothing is as it seems in either crime, and with a child's life at stake, time has never been more precious.

Flying Too High contains all of the elements that worked in its predecessor -- the well-drawn supporting players, the fast-pace and energy -- and fewer of its pitfalls -- Phyrne still unfortunately seeks out random hook-ups, but they are less prevalent to the storyline here. I loved maid Dot's growing loyalty to her new mistress and the introduction of the unflappable (and aptly-named) Mr. Butler and his wife. The two separate mysteries were serviceable in and of themselves, but awkwardly resolved as the threads of each disparate case don't join until over halfway through this slim novel. 

While I love Phryne's boundless energy and heart for those who are wounded or in trouble, the manner in which some of her other-wise better impulses play out is troubling. When she meets the daughter of the deceased Mr. McNaughton, and learns the woman was abused by her father, Phryne then proceeds to SLEEP WITH the woman's fiance JUST BECAUSE SHE CAN, apparently. *rollseyes* And while I appreciate her drive to see the kidnapped girl returned unharmed -- particularly when it's discovered that one of the perpetrators is a notorious child predator -- her willingness to "procure" a prostitute for the CRIMINAL once he's on death row in order to buy his silence for another is nauseating to say the least. Greenwood is not adverse to tackling darker subject matter in her stories, but the imbalance between Phyrne's humor, warmth, and devil-may-care attitude and her thoughtless or outright troubling "indulgences" leave me finding her stories wanting in the extreme. While the seeds of everything I love about the television show are present in the first two installments of this series, as yet the show wins for transforming weak characterizations and choppy plots into engaging, addictive television.

About the book:

Walking the wings of a Tiger Moth biplane in flight is excitement-enough for most people, but not Phryne Fisher, aviatrix, socialite, and private investigator. Whether she's seducing beautiful young men, foiling nefarious kidnappers, or simply deciding what to wear to dinner, Phryne handles everything with inimitable panache and flair. 

In this, the second Phryne Fisher mystery, Australia's most glamorous detective flies even higher, handling murder, a kidnapping and the usual array of beaus—all before adjourning to the Queenscliff Hotel for breakfast. 

why HELLO

Posting is apt to be a bit sporadic here for the next few days as I strive to meet several book review commitment deadlines...so I thought I'd check in and leave you with this delicious teaser photo from one of my new favorite things -- the Australian television show Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, recently released on Blu-ray and DVD.  People, I love this show SO MUCH. And this picture makes me SO HAPPY. If I can ever get my act together I want to blog about this show UNTIL THE END OF TIME. But until then, meet Nathan Page as Detective Inspector Jack Robinson and Essie Davis as Miss Phyrne Fisher. :)

So what's new with everyone? Discover any new shows or films or fabulous reads?

Review: Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood

Cocaine Blues (Phryne Fisher #1)
By: Kerry Greenwood
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
ASIN: B006WBRL7Q

Review:

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the news of an upcoming period mystery release -- Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, based on the long-running series of novels by Australian writer Kerry Greenwood. Biding my time until the first season's US release, and intrigued by the 1920s Melbourne setting, I opted to explore the first volume in the series (now numbering nineteen). The distant -- and considerably poorer -- relation of a prominent British family, Phryne's family was elevated from their impoverished state when several heirs were killed in the Great War, leaving Phryne's father the heir apparent. While Phryne has enjoyed the accouterments attendant with great wealth, she's grown tired of life in England -- and when the opportunity arises to investigate the state of a troubled marriage in Melbourne on behalf of a friend, she jumps at the chance to return to her homeland reborn as a lady with power and connections.

Phryne is perhaps best described as lightning in human form, raw energy that relishes in living life to its explosive, fullest potential. I like her passion and enthusiasm for everything from aviation to disguises, her refusal to conform to the societal norm and its expectations of the "proper" role for women. However, this is the roaring twenties with its rapidly changing moral values, and a determination to flout convention can all too easily veer into tastelessness -- and it is this curious dichotomy at the core of Phryne's character that I find most troublesome. She has an admirable heart to assist those less fortunate than her, remembering from whence she came, but her penchant for quick hook-ups and activities of that ilk cheapen an otherwise promising and independently-minded, unique heroine.

By contrast I really liked Greenwood's cast of supporting players. There's Bert and Cec, best friends and partners in a cab driving venture, who fall into Phryne's circle when the rescue the victim of a botched abortion and Phryne needs their help capturing the perpetrator. And then there is Dot, who loses her position  when she refuses the advances of her employer's lecherous son. Faced with selling herself in order to survive, Phryne earns her undying gratitude when she gives Dot's would-be destroyer his comeuppance and offers her the position of ladies maid. Unfortunately for Phryne, those surrounding her are often more skillfully drawn than the series' central character. But as this is only the first installment in the series, the pieces are in place to hopefully provide Phryne with a more compelling, full-realized backstory and a believable compulsion for her venture into the atypical world of sleuthing.

While Cocaine Blues didn't quite deliver the characters or sense of time and place that I look for in a period cozy mystery (i.e., Agatha Christie being a prime example), it was a fairly diverting if not altogether memorable way in which to spend a few hours. Greenwood isn't afraid to tackle darker, more controversial subject matter than found in most novels of this ilk, and the energy she brings to her first Phryne mystery holds promise for future installments.

About the book:

The London season is in full fling at the end of the 1920s, but the Honorable Phryne Fisher—she of the gray-green eyes and diamant garters—is tiring of polite conversations with retired colonels and dances with weak-chinned men. When the opportunity presents itself, Phryne decides it might be amusing to try her hand at becoming a lady detective in Australia. 

Immediately upon settling into Melbourne's Hotel Windsor, Phryne finds herself embroiled in mystery. From poisoned wives and cocaine smuggling, to police corruption and rampant communism—not to mention erotic encounters with the beautiful Russian dancer, Sasha de Lisse—Cocaine Blues charts a crescendo of steamy intrigue, culminating in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street.