–Alert – this will be a short blog post as I have nothing but praise for Kerry Greenwood and Phryne Fisher!–
–If you don’t want to read the whole post then the above sentence sums it up quite nicely–
Differing from her usual style, Kerry Greenwood treats readers to a collection of short stories featuring the queen of 1920’s mystery, Phryne Fisher. In the foreword of the collection, Greenwood shares that these were ideas for full-length novels that didn’t quite make it. Her writing process starts with an area of research that interests her, she researches extensively, and then she describes the story as just “building up” within her during the research until it has to come out. These short stories didn’t make it because she didn’t know if the characters could put up with her for the time it took to write and edit the story. I love the way Greenwood has phrased that: the characters are there to be discovered, rather than a creation of hers.
In the foreword, Greenwood says she discovered Phryne in a similar fashion on a train ride; she had an idea of her heroine and details just bubbled up into Phryne. All in all, she says, it takes about three weeks to write a Miss Fisher novel! I can’t even imagine how her brain works for it to bubble up such a creation as a Phryne novel in only three weeks! I’d love to see what her results are on an IQ test.
If you’re as impressed as I am with the above information, you won’t be surprised to find that I’ve given The Lady With the Gun Asks the Questions a rare five stars. Miss Fisher was the second historical mystery series I read after Amelia Peabody, and I hold a special place for her on my reading list. It was great to read some short stories to see some more of her history and how she solidified her reputation as a detective. As always, Miss Fisher is brilliant, witty, ethical, sexy, generous, and charming. Greenwood always strikes the perfect balance between amusing read and murder mystery. I find myself comparing any novel written in the same vein to Miss Fisher, and they usually come up short. If you haven’t tried her yet, start with Cocaine Blues to get a feel for the series and toss in The Lady With the Gun Asks the Questions anywhere you like! I sincerely doubt that Phryne Fisher will disappoint you.