Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Summary and Reviews of Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood

Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood

Queen of the Flowers

A Phryne Fisher Mystery

by Kerry Greenwood

  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Jul 2008, 249 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

St. Kilda's streets hang with fairy lights. Tea dances, tango competitions, lifesaving demonstrations, lantern shows, and picnics on the beach are all part of the town's first Flower Parade. And who should be Queen of the Flowers but the Honourable Phryne Fisher? It seems that the lovely Phryne has nothing to do but buy dresses, drink cocktails, and dine in lavish restaurants. Unfortunately, disappearances during this joyous festival aren’t limited to the magic shows. One of Phryne’s flower maidens has simply vanished. And so, Phryne is off to investigate aided by Bert and Cec and her trusty little beretta. When her darling adopted daughter Ruth goes missing, Phryne is determined that nothing will stand in the way of her investigation. Phryne must confront elephants, brothel-life, and—perhaps worst of all—an old lover in an effort to save Ruth and her flower maiden before it is too late. Queen of the Flowers is the fourteenth book in the Phryne Fisher series, with no sign of Ms. Fisher hanging up her pearl-handled pistol yet.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"..will delight longtime fans, but newcomers who like their crime on the lighter side can jump in without any trouble." - Publishers Weekly

"By no means the best of Phryne's long string of period mysteries...but the delightfully outre heroine is always a pleasure to revisit." - Kirkus Reviews

"For series fans" - Library Journal

This information about Queen of the Flowers was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Erica

Queen of the flower
Title and background of the author, setting, characterization, plot, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, ending, lesson learned.

Cloggie Downunder

Excellent Greenwood , as always
Queen of the Flowers is the fourteenth book in the popular Phryne Fisher series by Australian author, Kerry Greenwood. For the 1928 Flower Festival in St Kilda, Phryne is to be Queen of the Flowers. Appropriate outfits and Flower Maidens have to be organised, adding to Phryne’s usual busy schedule. On top of this, Ruth, one of Phryne’s adopted daughters, is intent on finding her father; an acquaintance (or two) from Phryne’s days in England turn up; and she receives a cryptic card in the post. Then one of the Flower Maidens goes missing, and Ruth fails to return home. This installment has elephants, musical sailors, TB, a Gambling Boat, someone performing CPR, a miserly grandfather, a dangerous man with a shotgun and, finally, a parade. Bert and Cec, Dot, Jane and Ruth, Li Pen and Lin Chung all do their part, and the Butlers provide background support. Mr Butler’s Refreshing Cocktail is helpfully provided in the appendix. Each chapter ends with some communication between two people that sheds light on Ruth’s parentage. Characters from several earlier books rate mentions or cameos, but this book can be enjoyed without having read previous installments. Phryne fans will enjoy revisiting this unique household with its adopted daughters, ladies maids, and a Chinese lover whose wife designs his lover’s garden. My favourite passage: ”The day dawned far too bright and fair……Dot was awake, dressed and characteristically cheerful. Dot liked dawn. Phryne only liked it from the other side.” Excellent Greenwood , as always.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Kerry Greenwood Author Biography

Photo: Monty Coles

Kerry Greenwood was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray and after wandering far and wide, she returned to live there. She has a degree in English and Law from Melbourne University and was admitted to the legal profession on the 1st April 1982, a day which she finds both soothing and significant. Kerry has written twenty novels, a number of plays, including The Troubadours with Stephen D'Arcy, is an award-winning children's writer and has edited and contributed to several anthologies. In 1996 she published a book of essays on female murderers called Things She Loves: Why women Kill.

The Phryne Fisher series (pronounced Fry-knee, to rhyme with briny) began in 1989 with Cocaine Blues which was a great success. Kerry has written sixteen books in this series with no sign yet of Miss ...

... Full Biography
Link to Kerry Greenwood's Website

Other books by Kerry Greenwood at BookBrowse

8 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more mysteries...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Most of us who turn to any subject we love remember some morning or evening hour when...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.