Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Musique - "Miss Fisher's Theme" by Greg J Walker

Back in 2008, I was looking through the fiction section at my library and saw the book Away with the Fairies by Kerry Greenwood. The cover intrigued me because it was very 1920s and well, I love a good murder mystery, so I checked it out and read it—and loved it! After that, I read the rest of the Phryne Fisher series, totally loving all of the wonderful characters along with the 1920s aspect of the books.

Last year, I saw on Kerry Greenwood's Facebook page that they had made a show of her books in Australia called Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I saw that the DVDs of this show were available in Australia, but not the U.S., so I put them on my wishlist as a sort of "well, maybe someday, I'll get them" type deal. But then recently, I decided to see if they were available on Netflix and lo and behold, they were! Up to number one in my queue they went!

I have only watched one and a half episodes so far and I can tell that I love this show! I will say that most of the characters are portrayed as much younger than I pictured them whilst reading the books—with the very obvious exception of Phryne Fisher. In the books, Phryne is twenty-eight years old, but the actress who plays Phryne, Essie Davis, is forty-three (a stunning forty-three, but forty-three nonetheless). This bothered me at first and I wondered if the producers of the show intentionally decided to make Phryne a more mature woman. But then I watched an interview with Kerry Greenwood and she seemed tickled pink at the casting choice. And I realized that Essie Davis does indeed bring the spirit of Phryne to life, so she was the best actress for this role. What does age really mean anyway? But I do wish they'd made her hair more like the Phryne of the book covers. I feel like her bob is just a scooch too long. (Yes, I am aware I am a tad bit obsessive when it comes to hair in movies/TV vs. books.)

Okay, so once I got over the whole age and bob length things, I really enjoyed the show. It's been so many years since I've read most of the Phryne Fisher books, I've forgotten whodunit, which is nice. I also really loved Miranda Otto in the first episode, "Cocaine Blues". When I saw her name in the credits, I was like, "What? Eowyn is in this show?! There must be another Miranda Otto." But nope, it was really her and she killed it (literally). In the show there is no Mrs. Butler (sad face) and so far, it doesn't look like Detective Inspector Jack Robinson is the happily married man he is in the books. However, I like the flirtatious tension between him and Phryne, so I don't mind this alteration from the books (or perhaps Kerry Greenwood really did intend them to have a thing for each other, even though he's married, and I just didn't pick up on it). And Dot and Hugh are just so freaking adorable, it's almost too much to take. I squee every time I see them together.

The costumes and sets and music are just fantastic—so very 1920s. In that interview with Kerry Greenwood I mentioned earlier, she said she was so excited that they did such a great job bringing 1928 to life so accurately, even in the language spoken. I always love it when things are historically accurate. :)

If you have not checked out the Phryne Fisher books or the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries show, I suggest you do so post haste! P.S. The DVDs are now available in the U.S. and not only through Netflix!

Some images found here and here.