Dead Man's Chest

My library got in the latest installment of Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mystery series, so I spent the weekend devouring Dead Man's Chest (#15).  The Hon. Phyrne, her companion/maid Dot, and her two adopted daughters Ruth and Jane, are off to an Australian seaside resort to stay in a borrowed house.  But Phyrne being Phryne odd and mysterious things keep cropping up until she and her household (and Dot's fiance the police detective sargeant) are able to resolve things satisfactorily for everyone except the criminals, of course.

In Dead Man's Chest Ms. Greenwood gives us a taste of Twenties seaside resort living, early cinematography, class attitudes, anthropology, cookery and a most amusing Surrealist party.  She also most obligingly includes several recipes and a bibliography at the end of the book.  I will have to check the cookbook that Ruth uses throughout -  The Gentle Art of Cookery by Mrs. CF Leyel - and see if I can find the recipe for pottage a bonne femme.

I couldn't help thinking what a contrast Phyrne is to the heroine of Mark of the Lion, Jade del Cameron.  Both served on the front lines during WWI, both are single and independent, and both are involved in mysteries.  But what a difference.  I never could warm up to Jade.  She seemed selfish and self-centered.  Phyrne on the other hand is rich enough to have her eccentricities overlooked, but she is very observant, an implacable and frightening foe if you cross her (love how she dealt with the criminal mastermind!), yet she rescues strays (Ruth, Jane and Tinker), and gives them a chance to forge a new life based on their own actions and aspirations.  In other words, you can plainly see why her household is so devoted to her.

But the best thing about this series is that I still have a lot of previous volumes to hunt down and read!