The Green Mill Murder

A Phryne Fisher Mystery

By: Kerry Greenwood

Narrated by: Stephanie Daniel

Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Phryne Fisher is doing one of her favorite things -dancing at the Green Mill (Melbourne's premier dance hall) to the music of Tintagel Stone's Jazzmakers, the band who taught St Vitus how to dance. And she's wearing a sparkling lobelia-coloured georgette dress. Nothing can flap the unflappable Phryne -especially on a dance floor with so many delectable partners. Nothing except death, that is.

The dance competition is trailing into its last hours when suddenly, in the middle of "Bye Bye Blackbird" a figure slumps to the ground. No shot was heard. Phryne, conscious of how narrowly the missile missed her own bare shoulder, back, and dress, investigates. This leads her into the dark smoky jazz clubs of Fitzroy, into the arms of eloquent strangers, and finally into the sky, as she follows a complicated family tragedy of the great War and the damaged men who came back from ANZAC cove. Phryne flies her Gypsy Moth Rigel into the Autralian Alps, where she meets a hermit with a dog called Lucky and a wombat living under his bunk.... and risks her life on the love between brothers.

©1993 Kerry Greenwood (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Australian crime fiction is becoming increasingly popular in North America, but Greenwood's series, thanks to its sparkling evocation of how the 1920s roared Down Under, manages to stand apart from the crowd. Anyone who hasn't discovered Phryne Fisher by now should start making up for lost time." ( Booklist)

Singing Killed It

I love this series and Stephanie Daniel does an excellent job reading them except for this book. Three things really killed my usual 5-Star rating of the Phryne Fisher series. The first, and the most irritating, is the singing. Either Stephanie cannot sing or the voice she choose to use for the singer could not sing. Not sure which but it was sufficiently hideous that I really wanted to quit the book each time I started to feel the nails against the chalkboard repulsion well within my chest. I was equally irritated that Kerry felt she had to put so much of the song lyrics into the written prose as part of the plot. In my opinion, it was not needed. Her writing skill could have used something else to slow the pace.

Before I call out the other two items, I want to point out that this book also suffers from some plot consistencies, but they are not irritating enough to remove stars (ie why, if Vic intended to kill himself, would he have taken a tent with him? How Phryne would ever, and so quickly, wish to physically couple with someone with such poor hygiene and probable rotted teeth - he was a hermit for many, many years with the lack of milk - is beyond me. (I doubted Pete the Painter’s dental hygiene as well). Yes she had him bath in icy water, but years of quick baths and wiping with newspaper squares compared to luxurious long soaks in baths cannot compare in cleanliness.)

The other two items... 1) Phyrne’s character was too hard in this book. Harder than in the previous books. Her orders were too abrupt and not at all done in a manner which would make her endearing. More compliance due to fear of retribution. 2) Regardless of how Kerry tried to establish why Phryne allowed the murderer to escape, it didn’t ring true. If he did it once, he’d do it again, and I can’t see Phryne wishing something bad on an unsuspecting future victim. That victim may not be morally corrupt as this victim was painted to be.

With the bad out of the way, the overall plot was very interesting. We got to learn a lot more about Bert and Cec in a skillful way. I got the sense of how horrible their war experiences were. At least as much sense as I could having never experienced anything approaching this horror. The new characters in the Australian Alps were delightful. Finding the writer was a tad jarring, but I ignored it. Anne was delightful and the scones scene well done. I also liked how she continues to use characters she previously introduced as it gives the series a sense of building community. I did like the book, but I think it was not her best.

very Enjoyable listen

great listen. enjoyed the the reader. brought you into the story.
understand very little from the serious though

Phryne Flies Again!

The Green Mill Murder is the fifth Phryne Fisher adventure, and Kerry Greenwood has created a great plot involving an inventive murder method, a dance marathon, the killing of the wrong man, Phryne as intrepid aviatrix flying over the outback and the Australian Alps, and meeting a hermit who has been legally declared dead. Along the way we encounter blackmail, jealousy, an extremely dysfunctional family and attempted fratricide., and I can assure you that this book is lots of fun!

The descriptions of the outback and the extremely rough terrain of the mountains are particularly vivid. As usual, Phryne gets to the bottom of all the mysterious matters that crop up with elan and dash while distributing large doses of friendship, love and kindness to just about any person who needs them.

Stephanie Daniel does her usual excellent job of narration, employing a number of voices and accents. Some reviewers have complained about her singing. While her singing in the Phryne books is not the most beautiful I have ever heard, it is also not the worst. I think the suggestion of hiring a professional singer is a bit much, considering that the singing is a very small percentage of the text. Besides, I fear that the resulting increase in production costs would be passed along in a price increase for consumers.

This really is one of the really good Phryne Fisher books. Enjoy!!

great story

wonderful narration, interesting and believable characters. I confess I was greatly taken by the wombat.

Great historical information

Phryne deals with mystery involving the reality of WWI Shell shock, plus the Jazz dancing craze of the 1920s. Also-the excitement of Phryne as a pilot in the Australian Alps. Great book. Loved the interview with the author at the end.

Loved the TV series, the books are even more enjoyable.

Love the historic details, settings, and diverse characters. Just a fun listening experience. Fun to learn about Australia and New South Wales. This will be my fourth. On to the fifth….

Thank you!

I love getting lost in these stories and characters. Only in the imagination could a person consume as much alcohol, nicotine and caffeine as the Phryne Fisher character as remain as dynamic, healthy, strong and beautiful. I love the attention to decor, food and attire, very engaging.

The best so far

This is the best Phryne Fisher story that I have heard so far. The mixture of that mad character, history lessons and always tongue-in-cheek story telling works so well,

Stephanie Daniel reads it very well and conveys the story with lightness and that same humour.

It could only be improved by removing those references to changes of CDs!

A fun look into 1920s jazz

I really love the tone of the Phrynie books. There is this wonderful sense of balance to the character's manners, logic, and sense of justice. This book also has a lovely sense of mood, balancing the horrors of the Great War with the jovial party of the jazz scene

Fantastic Phryne

This is a great Phryne story with all of the delicious tid bits you expect from Kerry Greenwood.
Loved it!