Unnatural Habits
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
"Among Phryne's pleasantly dashing adventures, this one stands out for its emphasis on sexual orientation and institutional coverups." —Kirkus Reviews STARRED review
The decidedly raven-haired Miss Phryne Fisher returns to delve deep into the dark side of Melbourne, Australia.
It's 1929, and girls are going missing. Little, pretty golden-haired girls. And they're not just pretty. Three of them are pregnant, poor girls from the harsh confines of the Magdalene Laundry. People are getting nervous.
Polly Kettle, a pushy, self-important girl reporter with ambition and no sense of self preservation, decides to investigate and promptly goes missing herself.
It's time for Phryne and Dot to put a stop to this and find Polly Kettle before something quite irreparable happens to all of the missing girls. It's all piracy and dark cellars, convents and plots, murder and mystery...and Phryne finally finds out if it's true that blondes have more fun.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When thugs assault an unescorted woman on a Melbourne street in Greenwood's entertaining 19th Phryne Fisher mystery set in 1920s Australia (after 2010's Dead Man's Chest), Fisher, who's on her way to her club, comes to the rescue. Reporter Margaret "Polly" Kettle, the intended victim, has been tracking down leads for a story on three pregnant girls who disappeared from the Magdalen Laundry at the Abbotsford convent. With the police uninterested, Polly appeals to Phryne for aid, but before Phryne's inquiries can advance very much, Polly herself is abducted. The sleuth encounters more than a little human misery in her quest, and, endowed with a generosity of spirit and ample financial resources, puts things right wherever possible. While no one will confuse this for Dickens, Greenwood's presentation of the horrific conditions in the Magdalen Laundry, an actual place, makes this a refreshing change from the series' sometimes breezy story lines.
