Death in Daylesford

A Phryne Fisher Mystery

By: Kerry Greenwood

Narrated by: Julia Franklin

Surrounded by secrets, great and small, the formidable Miss Phryne Fisher returns to vanquish injustice.

When a mysterious invitation arrives for Miss Phryne Fisher from an unknown Captain Herbert Spencer, Phryne's curiosity is excited. Spencer runs a retreat in Victoria's spa country for shell-shocked soldiers of the First World War. It's a cause after Phryne's own heart but what could Spencer want from her?

Phryne and the faithful Dot view their spa sojourn as a short holiday but are quickly thrown in the midst of disturbing Highland gatherings, disappearing women, murder and the mystery of the Temperance Hotel.

Meanwhile, Cec, Bert and Tinker find a young woman floating face down in the harbour, dead. Tinker and Phryne's resilient adopted daughters, Jane and Ruth, decide to solve what appears to be a heinous crime.

Disappearances, murder, bombs, booby-traps and strange goings-on land Miss Phryne Fisher right in the middle of her most exciting adventure.

©2020 Kerry Greenwood (P)2020 W F Howes

This narrator is… not… great

Well, we are lucky to have gotten 20 books of a 23-book series with one beloved voice artist, so it’s hard to follow up that act. I’m determined to finish out this series but miss Stephanie Daniel! RIP to a wonderful narrator.

The new reader’s accents are often incomprehensible, and the breathy stop-and-start speaking style is quite disconcerting. Almost sounds like she can’t regulate her breath to the cadence of the words.

However, the story is interesting as always with lots of fun characterization and new-to-me info about Australiana.

We sure miss you, Kerry Greenwood. 💜

Accents

I was excited enough at the thought of a new book in this series that I ignored the reviews. As a New Zealander I wondered if it was just that people were unfamiliar with mine and the Australian accent. Alas, no, the accents are all wrong, unnatural, apart from moments when the narrator slips into her own native accent. Isn't it fasinating how a narrator can blur the quality of the writing ....I did not enjoy this book and will return it.
How you are missed Stephanie Daniel.

The poor selection of narrator. The narration was so poor that it was hard to follow the plot.

Narrator very poor. Production company did not honor author, Stephanie Daniels or loyal listeners with this choice.

Good story

I enjoyed the story. Narrator was fine with the descriptive text and Miss Fishers voice but all the other voices were awful. She needs to work on getting the Australian accent right.

Great story ruined by the narration

Another great Phyrne story but as per the other reviewers I was horrified by the narration and struggled to immerse myself as usual. Julia Franklin herself is a wonderful narrator but the wrong choice for these books as the accents were all wrong. I've listened to other series where a new narrator has been needed and I usually settle in after a few chapters. But Julia was neither similar or wildly different enough to make the leap and it's a shame as the story was as good as the rest of the series. I hope the next book finds someone new or I will be reading on my kindle not listening.