The glorious Phryne Fisher returns to the spotlight in her seventh adventure. Fisher is an independent, unconventional PI with competence, unflappability and flamboyance in equal measures.
Running late to the Hinkler gala performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, she meets some thugs in a dark alley and handles them convincingly before they can ruin her silver dress. Phryne then finds that she has rescued a gorgeous Chinese, Lin Chung, and his grandmother, and is briefly mistaken for a deity. Denying divinity but accepting cognac, she later continues safely to the theater. But it's an unexpected evening as her night is again interrupted by a most bizarre death onstage.
What links can Phryne possibly find between the ridiculously entertaining plot of Ruddigore, the city's Chinese community, and the actors treading the boards of His Majesty's Theatre? Drawn backstage and onstage, Phryne must solve an old murder and find a new murderer, and, of course, banish the theater's ghost, who seems likely to kill again.
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"Transported back to the 1920s once again. The primary mystery is the usual death in unfortunate places, involving a theater group. The descriptions are convincing enough, I felt I should be sneezing from the dust. The saving of a Chinese grandmother brings in a set of characters and a story line that doesn't get developed until a bit later in the story, unlike some that have Phryne dealing with two mysteries at once. It was another can't put it down, if only to find out where this mysterious Chinese man fits into the story. All the loose ends are tidied up by the finish, so I could go to sleep."
—
Lin (5 out of 5 stars)