Blood and Circuses (Phryne Fisher Mystery) - Softcover

"Circus oddities and exciting men produce a thrilling series of challenges for Phryne. Above-average for the series." --"Kirkus Reviews" ..".as fans of this very popular series will expect--Phryne keeps her wits about her and her spirits up. A top-notch entry in this witty, hugely entertaining series." --"Booklist " "Circus oddities and exciting men produce a thrilling series of challenges for Phryne. Above-average for the series." --"Kirkus Reviews" ."..as fans of this very popular series will expect--Phryne keeps her wits about her and her spirits up. A top-notch entry in this witty, hugely entertaining series." --"Booklist " "Circus oddities and exciting men produce a thrilling series of challenges for Phryne. Above-average for the series." --"Kirkus Reviews" "...as fans of this very popular series will expect-Phryne keeps her wits about her and her spirits up. A top-notch entry in this witty, hugely entertaining series." --"Booklist " "Under the big top, socialite detective Phryne Fisher (The Green Hill Murder, 2007, etc.) falls for a clown, learns to love a bear and solves a case of sabotage. When her former lover, half-gypsy carnival worker Alan Lee, asks for help in discovering who's sabotaging Farrell's Circus, Phryne is up for the challenge. Because a horse has been poisoned and a rider injured, Phryne is able to apply for a job as a trick rider. Meanwhile, a hermaphrodite who worked at the circus is found murdered in a Melbourne rooming house. Miss Parkes, a killer just released from prison, is arrested, but Constable Harris thinks she's innocent, and DI Robinson agrees. Robinson, realizing that a murder involving rival gangs is somehow connected with the circus, becomes concerned for Phryne, for whom the circus is a whole new world. At length she learns to do the equestrian tricks well enough to be in the show. Meantime, she makes both new friends and new enemies in the rigid circus society. Her affair with one of the clowns raises eyebrows. But disapproval is the least of her worries as she tries to discover the identity of the saboteur. When her case collides with the police investigation, the consequences are perilous. Circus oddities and exciting men produce a thrilling series of challenges for Phryne. Above-average for the series." --Kirkus Reviews

"A top-notch entry in this witty, hugely entertaining series." -Booklist Phryne Fisher is bored. Life has become too easy, too perfect. Her household is ordered, her love life is pleasant, the weather is fine. And then a man from her past arrives at her door. Alan Lee and his friends want her to investigate strange happenings at Farrell's Circus, where animals have been poisoned and ropes sabotaged. Mr. Christopher has been found with his throat cut in Mrs. Witherspoon's irreproachable boarding house, and Miss Parkes-an ex-performer-is charged with his murder. Phryne must go deep undercover to be effective. She must abandon her name, her title, her protection, her comfort-even her clothes. She must fall off a horse twice a day until she can stay on. She must sleep in a girl's tent and dine on mutton stew. And she must find some allies. Meanwhile in Melbourne, young, fresh-faced policeman Tommy Harris has to solve his own mysteries with the help of the foul-spoken harridan Lizard Elsie, or Miss Parkes will certainly hang. Can Phryne uncover the truth under the Big Top without losing her life? Kerry Greenwood is the author of more than 40 novels and six non-fiction books. She has received the Ned Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Witers' Association of Australia. When she is not writing, she is an advocate in Magistrates' Courts for the Legal Aid commission. www.phrynefisher.com