Review: Kerry Greenwood - Cocaine Blues (Phryne Fisher #1) (1989)
I found out about the Phryne Fisher mystery series after learning that the TV show adaptation was getting a Chinese adaptation. I'd watched the Chinese adaptation, Miss S, and enjoyed it. I'd heard that it was made to closely resemble the Australian TV show.
Anyway, this novel was a short one but it was interesting and charming. A nice quick read.
Spoilers.
Story
The novel followed our protagonist, Phryne Fisher. She was asked by parents of a woman to investigate whether she was being poisoned by her husband who was after her money. This sent Phryne from England back to Melbourne, her place of origin.
During the story, Phryne met a family of Russian dancers, two twins and their grandmother who styled herself a princess. The male twin, Sasha, was a love interest with whom Phryne had had a sexual relationship.
There was also a subplot relating to an illegal abortionist, who was arrested via sting.
At the end of the novel, it was revealed that the daughter who was suspected of being poisoned was actually the kingpin of the Australian cocaine ring.
I think the mystery aspect of this book was pretty simple and straightforward. Not too convoluted, and enough action to keep us interested. Where this book shone was definitely Phryne. She was a free woman, very much about doing what one wanted, sleeping with whomever one wanted, etc. She was such a big personality, and she definitely made the book so much more fun.
Writing
The writing was alright. Nothing too spectacular but by no means was it bad. Again, the place that this novel shone was through the characters.
It was also interesting to see how the TV adaptations tied with the books. I think the TV adaptation separated the abortionist and drug ring story lines, whereas here in this book it was obvious that the drug ring was the bigger story and the abortionist one was the smaller one.
Characters
Phryne Fisher
As I mentioned, Phryne was a very free spirit. She was an independent woman. She spent her time doing fun things, spending time with beautiful people, did risky and dangerous things, etc.
What I thought was interesting was how we were never really hidden from the fact that Phryne can afford to live the way that she lives because she's loaded. She can only afford to put off questions of marriage and such because she's rich and that affords her some degree of not having to answer questions she doesn't want to. And while she's a clever and intelligent detective who is also secretly quite kind, she still spends a lot of time doing fun things like attending parties. I thought it would have been a cliche if Phryne spent most of her time solving crimes like a tortured detective, but instead I prefer this character who is generally a hedonist, but uses her smarts and her resources for good willy nilly when it comes up.
Her perspective on sexuality is quite interesting too. She's very non-judgmental, and she kind of considers things on a case-by-case basis. She just determines whether she'd like to sleep with someone or not. If she does, then she'll have a good time with them, but she doesn't get her feelings mixed in. Phryne was clearly very attracted to Sasha but was angered when she realized that he was trying to seduce her for his own gains. But when they reunited at the baths, we saw that they were still on good terms. Phryne would never see him as someone to trust or love, but she still appreciated him as a fun and attractive guy.
It seems that Phryne also had a background serving in the war, and that kind of adds to the wonder of Miss Fisher. She's clever, she's tough, and she knows how to have fun.
Dr. Elizabeth MacMillan
Dr. MacMillan was Phryne's friend with whom she served in the war. Dr. MacMillan worked at the women's hospital, the only place that female medical doctors could work.
Elizabeth was more involved in the illegal abortionist subplot.
Dorothy Bryant
Dot was a maid who wanted to get revenge on the son of a former employer who'd made sexual advances on her and had her fired when she rebuffed him. In Miss S, Dot's character was very timid and shy, and I thought it was neat that Dot in the books was rather rough and hardy.
Dorothy does hold some traditional values, such as preferring to be religious, but she's also very matter of fact.
Cecil "Cec" Yates
Cec was one of the taxi drivers that Phryne met at the beginning of the book. He was known to be a softie, particularly feeling very worried about Alice, the victim of the illegal abortionist. At the end of the book, he proposed to Alice, but she told him to try again in six months because she needed time to regroup.
Albert "Bert" Johnson
Bert was the other taxi driver. He helped Phryne at the end when she tried to track down the King of Snow. What's funny was that during their sting in which Phryne dressed up as a prostitute, Bert was very fast in terms of picking up on the roleplay. When Phryne kissed him to avoid Cokey, he got the memo super fast. Interesting dude lol.
Alice Greenham
Alice was the victim of the illegal abortionist that the taxi drivers ran into. She was bleeding in their taxi so they took her to Dr. MacMillan at the women's hospital.
Cec would visit Alice often at the hospital as she was recovering, and by the end, Dr. MacMillan said that she'd make a full recovery.
Sasha de Lisse
Sasha was a Russian dancer that was Phryne's sexual interest in this book. They were very flirtatious at first and slept together. Sasha and his family were tracking down drug traffickers. His mother died of drug overdose so he had a grudge against drug dealers.
As mentioned, Sasha was kind of trying to use Phryne which Phryne took offense to. Nonetheless, they worked together at the very end to incapacitate Lydia Andrews.
Lydia Andrews
Lydia was the King of Snow, the local drug kingpin. She portrayed herself as the victim of poisoning by her husband, by taking arsenic and building a tolerance to it. Then she'd poison her husband and convince others that they'd only had their drinks swapped.
Lydia hated her husband because he'd started wanting sex from her. In conversation between Phryne and Sasha, they felt that Lydia disliked sex because she was so enamoured with power. It's kind of unclear whether she's asexual, but it seemed that she kind of froze up when Sasha tackled her because she thought he would rape her, so perhaps she may have had some sex-related trauma in the past.
Butcher George
Butcher George was the illegal abortionist. He was known to rape his victims in return for lowering the price of his abortions. He also did a very sloppy job, which led to victims either dying or near death as Alice was.
Overall
A fun crime novel. I might consider reading more Phryne Fisher mysteries in the future.
Anyway, this novel was a short one but it was interesting and charming. A nice quick read.
Spoilers.
Story
The novel followed our protagonist, Phryne Fisher. She was asked by parents of a woman to investigate whether she was being poisoned by her husband who was after her money. This sent Phryne from England back to Melbourne, her place of origin.
During the story, Phryne met a family of Russian dancers, two twins and their grandmother who styled herself a princess. The male twin, Sasha, was a love interest with whom Phryne had had a sexual relationship.
There was also a subplot relating to an illegal abortionist, who was arrested via sting.
At the end of the novel, it was revealed that the daughter who was suspected of being poisoned was actually the kingpin of the Australian cocaine ring.
I think the mystery aspect of this book was pretty simple and straightforward. Not too convoluted, and enough action to keep us interested. Where this book shone was definitely Phryne. She was a free woman, very much about doing what one wanted, sleeping with whomever one wanted, etc. She was such a big personality, and she definitely made the book so much more fun.
Writing
The writing was alright. Nothing too spectacular but by no means was it bad. Again, the place that this novel shone was through the characters.
It was also interesting to see how the TV adaptations tied with the books. I think the TV adaptation separated the abortionist and drug ring story lines, whereas here in this book it was obvious that the drug ring was the bigger story and the abortionist one was the smaller one.
Characters
Phryne Fisher
As I mentioned, Phryne was a very free spirit. She was an independent woman. She spent her time doing fun things, spending time with beautiful people, did risky and dangerous things, etc.
What I thought was interesting was how we were never really hidden from the fact that Phryne can afford to live the way that she lives because she's loaded. She can only afford to put off questions of marriage and such because she's rich and that affords her some degree of not having to answer questions she doesn't want to. And while she's a clever and intelligent detective who is also secretly quite kind, she still spends a lot of time doing fun things like attending parties. I thought it would have been a cliche if Phryne spent most of her time solving crimes like a tortured detective, but instead I prefer this character who is generally a hedonist, but uses her smarts and her resources for good willy nilly when it comes up.
Her perspective on sexuality is quite interesting too. She's very non-judgmental, and she kind of considers things on a case-by-case basis. She just determines whether she'd like to sleep with someone or not. If she does, then she'll have a good time with them, but she doesn't get her feelings mixed in. Phryne was clearly very attracted to Sasha but was angered when she realized that he was trying to seduce her for his own gains. But when they reunited at the baths, we saw that they were still on good terms. Phryne would never see him as someone to trust or love, but she still appreciated him as a fun and attractive guy.
It seems that Phryne also had a background serving in the war, and that kind of adds to the wonder of Miss Fisher. She's clever, she's tough, and she knows how to have fun.
Dr. Elizabeth MacMillan
Dr. MacMillan was Phryne's friend with whom she served in the war. Dr. MacMillan worked at the women's hospital, the only place that female medical doctors could work.
Elizabeth was more involved in the illegal abortionist subplot.
Dorothy Bryant
Dot was a maid who wanted to get revenge on the son of a former employer who'd made sexual advances on her and had her fired when she rebuffed him. In Miss S, Dot's character was very timid and shy, and I thought it was neat that Dot in the books was rather rough and hardy.
Dorothy does hold some traditional values, such as preferring to be religious, but she's also very matter of fact.
Cecil "Cec" Yates
Cec was one of the taxi drivers that Phryne met at the beginning of the book. He was known to be a softie, particularly feeling very worried about Alice, the victim of the illegal abortionist. At the end of the book, he proposed to Alice, but she told him to try again in six months because she needed time to regroup.
Albert "Bert" Johnson
Bert was the other taxi driver. He helped Phryne at the end when she tried to track down the King of Snow. What's funny was that during their sting in which Phryne dressed up as a prostitute, Bert was very fast in terms of picking up on the roleplay. When Phryne kissed him to avoid Cokey, he got the memo super fast. Interesting dude lol.
Alice Greenham
Alice was the victim of the illegal abortionist that the taxi drivers ran into. She was bleeding in their taxi so they took her to Dr. MacMillan at the women's hospital.
Cec would visit Alice often at the hospital as she was recovering, and by the end, Dr. MacMillan said that she'd make a full recovery.
Sasha de Lisse
Sasha was a Russian dancer that was Phryne's sexual interest in this book. They were very flirtatious at first and slept together. Sasha and his family were tracking down drug traffickers. His mother died of drug overdose so he had a grudge against drug dealers.
As mentioned, Sasha was kind of trying to use Phryne which Phryne took offense to. Nonetheless, they worked together at the very end to incapacitate Lydia Andrews.
Lydia Andrews
Lydia was the King of Snow, the local drug kingpin. She portrayed herself as the victim of poisoning by her husband, by taking arsenic and building a tolerance to it. Then she'd poison her husband and convince others that they'd only had their drinks swapped.
Lydia hated her husband because he'd started wanting sex from her. In conversation between Phryne and Sasha, they felt that Lydia disliked sex because she was so enamoured with power. It's kind of unclear whether she's asexual, but it seemed that she kind of froze up when Sasha tackled her because she thought he would rape her, so perhaps she may have had some sex-related trauma in the past.
Butcher George
Butcher George was the illegal abortionist. He was known to rape his victims in return for lowering the price of his abortions. He also did a very sloppy job, which led to victims either dying or near death as Alice was.
Overall
A fun crime novel. I might consider reading more Phryne Fisher mysteries in the future.