Phryne Fisher, ennui of glittering upper crust life embarks on a trip to her native Australia to solve a mystery. Set in Melbourne between the wars. Book 1 of the series in which we meet Phyrne and Dot and Bert and Cec and Dr Macmillan.

In the U.S. published as Death by Misadventure : A Roaring Twenties Mystery (out of print in that edition, available in Australia as Cocaine Blues.
Synopsis from JA: It is 1928 when the Honourable Phryne Fisher sails into Melbourne, Australia and sets up as a female detective. She is soon involved in trouble with drugs, Turkish baths and the Women's hospital.

The second Phyrne Fisher adventure begins with the kidnapping of little Candida Alice Maldon.

A child is kidnapped and the Chairman of a flying school at Essendon airport is murdered. The Hon. Phryne Fisher indulges her passion for flying aircraft and becomes involved in the cases. - James Allen

In this, the third Phryne adventure, she travels by train to Ballarat only to be choloroformed. And what is the story behind young Jane?

Phyrne's investigations feature the usual 'pets' and a party beside the Yarra River in a historic boat house.

Phryne doesn't need to chase mysteries, this one comes to her in the form of a bullet through the windscreen of her beloved Hispano-Suiza and the death of a lovely young man. Her adventure leads her to Trotskyites, spiritualists and a Slavic ex-anarchist, all with a bit of robbery and revolutionary terrorism thrown in to keep her busy.

The fifth Phyrne adventure begins in the middle of a dance marathon at the Green Mill. Murder, blackmail, and jazz musicians make a heady mixture.

Whilst dancing in a Marathon at the Green Mill Dance Hall, The Hon. Phryne Fisher's partner is stabbed from behind and killed. She investigates a night time world of Jazz Clubs and Dance Halls. - James Allen

Phryne's investigation leads her to a career as a trick horse-rider.

It is October 1928. Nasty events are happening at Farrells Circus. The Hon. Phryne Fisher is called upon to investigate, so she joins the circus. She becomes a trick horse rider to see things from the inside, as the circus leaves Melbourne and goes west to Rockbank. - James Allen

There has been a murder at His Majesty's theatre; somehow the local Chinese community of Little Bourke Street is involved. Phryne Fisher is going to see a Gilbert and Sullivan performance when she gets caught up in the mystery.

At Cave House, a Gothic Mansion in the Gippsland Mountain country near Buchan Caves, various people come to stay for the weekend. The Hon. Phryne Fisher is among them. Suddenly gun shots ring out and someone is murdered.

Phryne discovers the alternative world of Jewish Melbourne when she starts investigating the poisoning of a young man in a bookshop.

From a bookshop in the Eastern Market of Melbourne, a mysterious poisoning takes Phryne Fisher to the Jewish community of Carlton, in her search for clues. - James Allen

May, 2001: this book may now be out of print. Contact Allen & Unwin regarding availability.

Set in Sydney, during the 1928 Test match between England and Australia. Phryne Fisher has traveled up to watch the cricket, but important ancient Egyptian artifacts have been stolen from a safe at Sydney University. Phryne investigates.

By this time, the author takes it for granted that you know all the regular characters -the rich, beautiful and talented private eye, Phryne, her maid and assistant, Dot, her two servants, Mr and Mrs Butler, the police inspector, Jack Robinson and Phryne's Chinese boyfriend, Lin Chung.

Reviewed by Sue B

Phryne's past in post-war Paris reaches into her idyllic Melbourne existence, while Lin Chung's approaching nuptials threatens to break up her happy home.

Phryne and the incomparable Lin Chung are each faced with mysteries and the challenge of solving murders that happened in bygone ages.

Phryne is about to become 1928's Queen of the Flowers, but of course, nothing is Phryne's life is without murder and mayhem.

A spate of burglaries has P & O hiring Phryne to investigate. She takes the S.S. Hinemoa to New Zealand with the Great Queen of Sapphires, the Maharani as bait.