Witty Little Knitter

And another entry for the 'Yes but'-shelf. I found the crime-part very well plotted and not at all predictable. However *goes to built a wall because now people will want to throw stones at me* I did have some issues with Phryne. I did like her but there were moments when she came over as a bit Sue-ish. It takes her only seconds to decide if she likes another person or not and those she doesn't like almost always turn out to be bad guys or at least very fishy. She's ridduculously rich, of course she also looks great (and buys lots of clothes...all of which are described in great detail) and she is so conveniently modern. I know that you can't have a young female crime-solving heroine in the 1920s that isn't at least a bit ahead of their time but unlike e.g. Carola Dunn or Frances Brody where, if I didn't know that the authors lived today, I wouldn't want to swear on it after reading their books, it seems just very obvious that the Phryne-Fisher books were written today. Phryne very much seems to have the moral compass of a 21st century woman: e.g. Sex is something great and fun, alcohol anyway but drugs/cocaine are just evil. Phryne just generally thinks it's bad and she's never done it, even though she probably did everything else that wasn't socially acceptable in the 20s, she never even tried it and then realized that it's not a good thing (which, imho would make much more sense as she is very intelligent and wouldn't want her mind clouded) or has a 'my pet-goldfish took too much cocaine and died'-story. Similarly she has a very modern-pacifist attitude to World War One (She read a sad poem about it by Winfried Owen and now hates it...). So overall I'm just not 100% convinced by her character. Still she is much fun and I'll give the next book in the series a try, too.