Murder in the Dark

A Phryne Fisher Mystery

By: Kerry Greenwood

Narrated by: Stephanie Daniel

The delectable Phryne Fisher has been invited to the Last Best party of 1928. When three of the guests are kidnapped Phryne finds she must puzzle her way through the scavenger hunt clues to retrieve the hostages. Another sparkling mystery from Australia's Queen of Crime, Kerry Greenwood.©2006 Kerry Greenwood (P)2007 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"Another strong entry in a consistently entertaining series." (Booklist)

"Daniel's reading of Phryne is commanding, sexy, and clever. The secondary characters, from debauched English lords to orphaned children and hearty laborers, also sound exactly right. Finally, the flapper-era music introducing each chapter adds to the charm. One could have listened forever." (AudioFile Magazine)

Too blue to be enjoyable. Detracted from mystery.

I'm a HUGE Phryne Fisher fan & have thoroughly enjoyed the Kerry Greenwood books after being introduced to Phryne via the TV series. Regretfully I did not enjoy this book at all. It is a bit light on the mystery, but that usually does not detract much as Kerry's descriptions and Australian history makes the Phyrne books so enjoyable. However this book depended largely on an ongoing orgy-light to carry parts of the plot along and the descriptions of same were just too squirm-inducing for me to enjoy. I'm no prude, but I felt the sexual situations (much more content than a usual Phryne story) were really too graphic and constant to make this book enjoyable. This one is being returned.
Oh, and there's LOTS of singing in this one.

Charming but not a mystery

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I wouldn't. I think it was very well-written, but it certainly wasn't a mystery. It is SO character-driven. The whole plot revolves around developing the main character, who I found irritating. It moved well, and there were moments of excitement. But not suspense and certainly not mystery.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I liked the period setting.

Any additional comments?

It's such a petty thing, but there was a lot of singing done by the (excellent) narrator. But the singing was atrocious, and often. It began to drive me out of my mind early in the narrative, and I found myself lurching up to turn the volume down, for fear that the neighbors could hear it. Maybe a small thing, but it really was a crazy-making deterrent in my mind.

Rather more risqué than usual, but a great mystery!

Wonderful narration-as always!
This one was a very clever mystery with extremely unusual characters. Much more risqué than many previous ones. But I like it that Phryne expresses that her morals are her morals and the books can still be enjoyed without one being made to feel that it is necessary to agree with her lifestyle choices. There is always the sense that Phryne is Phryne and lives by her own code, but the reader does not have to identify with her in every aspect. For instance, I identify with her ethics but not with her morals. And Phryne does not subscribe to Dot's lifestyle, yet profoundly respects Dot. I like this about these books.
If you are even a bit knowledgeable about the ancient Greeks and Romans and have familiarity with classical literature and music, you will especially enjoy this selection.
Lots of very interesting characters!

Love this crazy story.

Would you listen to Murder in the Dark again? Why?

I wouldn't listen again as I found the pace of the narration and the character accents not to my taste. I'm very familiar with the book and enjoy the tv series too so I found a disconnect between those and this reader.

How could the performance have been better?

More variety in the pace and if someone is going to sing lyrics I'd prefer them to be more polished. I realise from other reviews that this is a popular reader so I'm in the minority but I will stick to reading the books I think as I have to work quite hard to prevent the reader spoiling my enjoyment of the story.

not great

I have read. all previous Phryne books but this one was not to my liking. her home folks were not featured really much and the characters at this big partyt were unlikeable and hard to keep track of and remember their story and ties to Ms. Fisher. The plot of murder did not happen until almost the end of the book which up to that point was bouncing around and included too much descriptive sex which was unnecessary even though we know ahead of time of her pleasures. not sure if I will read any more. more fill with her clothes and sex and food than in previous books rather than a mystery.