Murder in the Cathedral

De: Kerry Greenwood

Narrado por: Wendy Bos

The indefatigable Miss Phryne Fisher returns to solve what may be her most puzzling murder.

When Phryne Fisher is invited to Bendigo to witness the investiture of her old friend Lionel, who is being made a Bishop, her expectations of the solemn and dignified ceremony do not include a murder.

Phryne is soon working with perspicacious local Constable Watson and eagle-eyed Inspector Mick Kelly to identify the perpetrator. It becomes quickly apparent the murder victim had been an overzealous deacon with a nose for trouble. Nobody seems very inclined to mourn his passing.

Applying her quick wits and magnetic charm, Phryne and her expanding team of sleuths discover murky layers of church politics, social scandals and business scams and blackmail. Soon, various suspects begin to form a long list, all with excellent motives for killing the deacon. Could the murderer be his own wife? A visiting dignitary? The mysterious organist? The angelic Brookes? The unemployed teacher? And why is the Bishop's Court being burgled?

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. Will Phryne be able to bring to light the proof she needs before the killer strikes again or disappears completely?

©2025 Kerry Greenwood (P)2025 W. F. Howes ltd.

Phryne detects again

Perhaps this is Phryne's last case, since I just heard of the sad death of the author Kerry Greenwood. I love the books, and also enjoy, in a different way, the TV show and movie. This isn't the very best Miss Fisher adventure, but it is a worthwhile story. The narrator wasn't great, but OK. As it is a mystery, I don't want to go into plot details, since it is virtually impossible to do so without spoilers. I have just one error to nit pick, perhaps caused by some careless editor after Greenwood's death or while she was ill, but when flying a plane a long way, Phryne thinks that she has never flown a plane for more than 20 minutes at a time. How could Phryne have forgotten her adventures in Flying Too High? And I think there are indications in various books of other times that she flew a plane a long distance. Oh, well, continuity can be difficult.

All in all, an enjoyable book. I am happy that it has been released on Audible in the US, even though it will probably be a long time before I can buy it in Kindle format.

Another great story but..

Another great story. I love Miss Fisher however whoever was in charge of keeping her history straight seemed to have missed several details. Such as her longest length of time flying a plane. Don’t want to spoil anything else but the faithful fans will notice.

A fine final novel

This is different from most posthumous novels in that it was essentially done when Kerry Greenwood died. It was in final editorial review, so what we have is just fine.

I really liked it on its own. The plot was nicely done with just enough tricksiness in it to make it not obvious. A couple subplots are not threaded into the rest of the story as well as I'd like, but that could easily be because they were an intro to things that would become apparent in following novels. Alas.

Unlike the other novels, it's narrated by Wendy Bos as opposed to Stephanie Daniel. Bos does a fine job on this (and also on the updated "The Lady with the Gun Asks the Questions") and my only complaint is that I'm used to Daniel.

If you like the Phryne books, you'll like this.

Murder in Cathedral

Not sure where this book fit in the series timeline, but happy to have one more in the series.

Disappointing, I am sorry to say

The reader’s labored diction gave such a note of artificiality that I sometimes wondered if I was hearing the voice of Hyacinth Bouquet rather than Phryne Fisher. I greatly enjoyed this series of books by Kerry Greenwood, but the last few have been disappointing at best. This new book is another set outside of Melbourne in a frankly uninteresting town; because of that the wonderful secondary characters were missing, except for Dot who has become as drab as her brown clothing. Knowing this is Ms. Greenwood’s last book, I would have liked to once again enjoyed reading about Jack Robinson, Jane, Ruth, Bert, Ces, Dr. McMillan, and Mr. And Mrs. Butler. Tinker makes a brief appearance at least as does Lin, but too brief to be in the least satisfying. I wish I had spent my time re-reading some of the earlier books. It was always great fun inhabiting Phryne’s world in those books and I remain grateful for them.