Here’s the blurb;
The delectable Phryne Fisher has been invited to the Last Best party of 1928. When three of the guests are kidnapped Phryne finds she must puzzle her way through the scavenger hunt clues to retrieve the hostages.
It’s Christmas, and Phryne has an invitation to the Last Best party of 1928, a four-day extravaganza being held at Werribee Manor house and grounds by the Golden Twins, Isabella and Gerald Templar. She knew them in Paris, where they caused a sensation. Phryne is in two minds about going when she starts receiving anonymous threats warning her against attending. She promptly decides to accept the invitation – after all, no one tells Phryne what to do. At the Manor, she is accommodated in the Iris room, and at the party meets two polo-playing women, a Goat lady (and goat), a large number of glamorous young men and a very rude child called Tarquin. The acolytes of the golden twins are smoking hashish and dreaming, and Phryne finds that the jazz is as hot as the drinks are cold and indulges in flirtations, dancing, and mint juleps. Heaven.
It all seems like good clean fun until three people are kidnapped, one of them the abominable child, and Phryne must puzzle her way through the cryptic clues of the scavenger hunt to retrieve the hostages and save the party from disaster.
I received a free E Arc from Netgalley.
This is the fourth Miss Fisher book I’ve read and by far the longest. That said, it’s still a quick, and intriguing read and I did very much enjoy it.
The descriptions of the very elaborate party she attends are not quite as long and tedious as other reviewers have complained, although there is quite a lot of poetry which is irrelevant. That said, it’s all scene setting – showing the ridiculously opulent lifestyle of the brother and sister at the heart of the story, and the way that the very rich choose to amuse themselves when they decided to have a party. That said, it’s very much Miss Fisher’s associates who complete the story, the cook, the maid, the ‘strongmen’ and the eventual appearance of good old Jack Robinson, not to mention Dot, her daughters and indeed, her sister.
I particularly enjoyed the brief scenes where Miss Fisher is reading the latest Agatha Christie novel, and determining who Hercule Poirot has decided is guilty of the crime. In its own way, this serves to highlight the differences between the hedonistic lifestyle of the party givers, Miss Fisher, and the far more sedate, Hercule.
Miss Fisher manages to solve the mystery, as always, and if the ‘happy’ ending is a little silly, then it is fiction – and why not allow the characters, who admittedly aren’t that likeable, to profit from their misfortune. It was a neat solution to the problem of the cast forever onwards being stuck in Miss Fisher’s circle of friends.
(I do prefer the covers with the actress from the TV series on). And you can buy it here;
MJ Porter 